ABSTRACT
Architectural patronage has always been understood to be a powerful tool for shaping both the physical and cultural environment, allowing the patron an opportunity for self-fashioning and the expression of public ideology. As Carolyn Valone has noted, “In Rome, both women and men were aware of this tradition, and aristocratic matrons for more than 1500 years used their own money to adorn the city with buildings which spoke about the issues that concerned them.”1 And women throughout Italy did the same. It was common practice for women with the financial means to commission religious or charitable structures: chapels, churches, convents, hospitals, housing for orphans, the poor, or prostitutes.
