Constructing History: The Visual Legacy of Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) commissioned more paintings and architectural monuments than any other fifteenth-century pope, yet his commissions have never been examined as a group. "Constructing History: The Visual Legacy of Pope Sixtus IV" is the first comprehensive assessment of the pope's patronage in its historical context. By investigating archival documents, unpublished literature, previous scholarship, as well as the monuments themselves, I offer a balanced assessment of Sixtus IV's contributions as a patron of the arts and provide insight into the pope's perceptions of himself as a religious and secular leader. Chapter I introduces the patron, Pope Sixtus IV, defines the meaning of his patronage in general, and critically analyzes his reputation by contemporaries and later historians. I consider the promotion of Pope Sixtus IV by others, and include the eulogizing panegyrics, poems, and historical chronicles composed by the poets and humanists in his papal circle. Chapter II investigates the pope's attempts at self-promotion, and examines the way in which Pope Sixtus IV advertised his power through ambitious commissions at the Hospital of Santo Spirito in Rome and at San Francesco in Assisi. In chapters III-V, I study three separate areas of Pope Sixtus IV's wide-ranging patronage in order to understand the different images projected by the pope: Religious Leader, Urban Renovator, and Dynastic Ruler. These divisions allow me to consider the unprecedented number of visual works in the context of the pope's interest in shaping perceptions. The catalogue that accompanies the text is divided into five sections that correspond with the chapters. This section of the dissertation provides extensive information about the attribution, scholarship, and history of each commission. Ultimately this fresh appraisal of Pope Sixtus IV's artistic patronage substantially revises our understanding of Rome in the late fifteenth century by introducing a new, comprehensive approach to viewing papal art and architectural commissions.