ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the religious patronage of the women who are included in Bonsignoris painting. It includes primary archival research, contextual analysis of the climate of female mysticism and a re-examination of a number of visual objects. The book demonstrates how Colonna's spiritual work in the world influenced Margherita Paleologa in Mantua a pious widow who, for many years, was also the public partner of Cardinal Ercole in the co-regency of Mantua and Monferrato. It provides insight into a complex and fluid world of sacred patronage, devotional practices and religious roles both inside and outside the convent walls. The book discusses the regulation of the monasteries and particularly the physical transformation of the public spaces within female communities to increase the separation of the nuns from their visitors, closing them off from the eyes of the city.
