ABSTRACT
With the building of the convent underway, the community at San Domenico began to obtain works of art to serve their needs. This chapter argues that the patronage of the convent in its earliest years reflected the personality and goals of the founding prioress. It begins by examining the works of art commissioned during Chiara Gambacorta’s term as prioress. The character of the imagery and the style of the objects served to link San Domenico to the Dominican order, while articulating specific messages to audiences both in the convent and in the world. Yet Chiara continued to dominate the convent even in death, as the community venerated her body and her legacy through works of art. The changing imagery of Chiara Gambacorta, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, charts the impact that she had on her convent over this span of time.
