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REVIEWS 198 power struggle with nature” within Titian’s art and the theoretical discourse of this period. This anthology is an excellent introductory resource for those interested in pursuing further studies on Titian and his art. The studies presented are diverse and highly accessible. This aptly titled work is truly a companion to both the art history student and scholar. HEATHER A. SEXTON, Art History, UCLA Daniela Solfaroli Camillocci, I Devoti della Carità. Le confraternite del Divino Amore nell’Italia del Primo Cinquencento (Naples: La città del sole 2002) 480 pp. The “Brotherhoods of Divine Love” were an interesting phenomenon of the spiritual life of Italy in the fifteenthand sixteenth centuries. Even though these religious congregations were not completely ignored by historians, they received only a superficial attention by some scholars at the beginning of the twentieth century. Daniela Solfaroli Camillocci’s book presents a detailed study directed to the rediscovery of the importance of the Brotherhoods of Divine Love investigating their proper characteristics in the precise chronological and cultural context, focusing on their institutional dimension. The Brotherhoods of Divine Love are not an isolated occurrence: their origin—1497 in Genoa—is connected to the more general phenomenon of religious congregations of hermits and to their penitential liturgies, which were very present also in the humanistic circles of fifteenth century. An example can be seen in the Florentine “compagnie della notte” that can be connected to the flagellating tradition, but was inspired also by a monastic liturgical practice that was centered on daily meditation on the Passion. Many humanists were part of these penitential brotherhoods, and their production of sermons and prayers allowed the author to reconsider and verify the thesis of P. O. Kristeller about the influence of religious congregations on the Neoplatonic Florentine culture and the origin of the Ficino’s academy itself, most of all in connection with concepts as the spiritual friendship and “divine love,” and the ambiguity of love of God, or for God, and charity. Many important literati, rich and educated men of the highest ruling class of the city, were part of these “confraternite.” At the basis of these congregations, there was the conception of poverty as material and spiritual “shame” that could be resolved with the exercise of a “secret” charity. Because of this, these confraternities became the center of charitable activities directed to public beneficence in sixteenth-century Italy. In Rome, for example, many hospitals were built or organized by the brothers of the Divine Love. The prologue starts with a general historical and historiographic context, seen under a “mythical” dimension—as the author defines it. In fact, it is the perspective of the contemporary Teatrini historians. The first chapter, “La carit à segreta,” is dedicated to a synthetic history of the Brotherhood of Divine Love of Genoa, founded in 1497 by some “spiritual sons” of Caterina Fieschi, whose first work of charity was a hospital founded in 1499 for the “incurabili,” those people who were considered not curable. The second chapter, “La confraternita romana del Divino Amore”; the third chapter, “Divino Amore, ‘Nazioni ’ e curia pontificia”; and the fourth chapter, “Alle origini di una pietà dei curiali: la confraternita della carità di Roma,” analyze the birth and the develop REVIEWS 199 of the brotherhood in Rome. Special attention is given to the physiognomy of the institution of the hospital of San Giacomo and its charitable assistance in the social framework of the city. Particular attention is also given to the connections between the Divine Love’s initiatives and the charity that was promoted by the officers of the papal court in their own larger brotherhood, the “Carità dei cortigiani.” In the fifth chapter, “La dissoluzione del gruppo romano del divino amore,” the author delineates some interpretative hypotheses about the dissolution of the Roman brotherhood in relation to the birth of the Teatrini. The end of the 1530s saw a partial ending of all the charitable religious experiences and groups, and after those years the charity’s works continued only at a local level, in a different and autonomous mode. The appendix offers a list of the brotherhoods of Divine Love, of San Giacomo, and of the Charity. These lists are very...

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