The Guidiccioni Family between Lucca and Rome: Artistic Patronage and Cultural Production 1530-1550ca

The thesis examines the artistic patronage of Giovanni (1500-1541) and Alessandro (1489-1552) Guidiccioni, who, as representatives of one of the most powerful families of sixteenth-century Lucca, held important diplomatic and religious positions at the court of Pope Paul III. The analysis aims to define the nature of artistic patronage in Lucca and Rome of these two noticeable representatives of the Guidiccioni family, in the framework of their extensive cultural production, which mainly found expression in literary and religious interests. Through the Guidiccioni case, the study seeks to contribute to the understanding of the cultural relationships between Lucca and Rome in the period between the Sack of Rome and the opening of the Council of Trento. This period corresponds with the moment of most intense religious debate on the topic of a Catholic response to Luther’s Reformation. In Lucca, this phase was characterized by a widespread diffusion of heterodox religious ideas, which largely affected the class of nobles-merchants ruling the town. The Guidiccioni case is framed in the study of patronage as a varied network of relationships, which essentially contributes to the understanding of a cultural context. In light of Lucca’s peculiar religious identity, the research aims to verify how the study of artistic patronage contributes to redefining a historical analysis that, from a political perspective, has mainly focused either on Lucca’s opposition or its forced adhesion to the directive of the Roman court, in the context of the interaction between the two cities.