Seeing is Believing: Visualizing Women’s Devotion in the Maiolica Ex-votos of Early Modern Italy

In 1690, a woman named Francesca di Santi commissioned a maiolica ex-voto tile to be made for the sanctuary of the Madonna del Bagno. A short inscription on the tile explains that after giving birth to three stillborns, Francesca finally birthed a living son. The accompanying depiction shows the sanctuary's cult image, the Madonna, cradling the Christ Child in her arms. Francesca kneels in gratitude before them, likewise cradling her own infant. In this ex-voto, on display in her local church, Francesca is both the subject of a viewing audience and the viewer herself. How did a woman in early modern Italy, like Francesca, see and relate to cult images in ways that were distinct to how the general public (men) related to them?

This paper explores women’s roles in devotional practices through a case study of ex-votos from the Madonna del Bagno, a sanctuary near the ceramic-making community of Deruta, Italy. Worship at the shrine began in 1657 and saw hundreds of ex-votos commissioned in the following decades in local maiolica. Using Francesca’s tile as an anchor, this paper explores how women might have perceived or viewed images in the church sanctuary in distinctive ways and how this contributed to their devotional practices. From giving birth to being exorcised from demons, various ex-voto images with women at the center illustrate not only physical and spiritual dangers of the lives of early modern women, but also hope and salvation provided to women like Francesca by the Madonna del Bagno.