Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
This essay examines portraits of old women that were produced for the households of the professional and elite classes in Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, and the Veneto during the second half of the sixteenth century, when, as a result of religious and social reform, women's lives came under increasing scrutiny. By interpreting the portraits within the context of prescriptive texts on the stages of women's lives, this study argues that the portraits provide evidence for the pivotal role of old women within the moral and symbolic order of the family, as well as in the wider community beyond the home.
I would like to thank Catherine Harding, Catherine Nutting, Paola Raia, my students, the members of the Early Modern Reading Collective and the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, as well as the anonymous readers for their excellent insights and suggestions. I am also grateful to Angela Ghirardi for sharing her expertise, to the staff of the Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio in Bologna, and to Erika Suffern and Timothy Krause for their help in preparing the text for publication. I wish to acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which funded the acquisition of photographs and the research travel necessary to complete this study. Translations are my own except where otherwise noted.