Resumen de Cult and Patronage. The Madonna della Clemenza, the Altemps and a Polish Canon in Rome
Polish canon Tomasz Treter (1547–1610) played a key role in devising the iconographic program of the Altemps Chapel in the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome. The comprehensive and distinctly post-Tridentine iconography used in this chapel—which includes the altarpiece Madonna della Clemenza, one of the oldest images of the Virgin Mary in Rome—points to the renascent power of the Roman Church while emphasizing the role of the chapel's founder and relative of the pope, Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps. The entire enterprise resulted from cult rather than patronage, for Treter was bound to have enthused the cardinal with the image of the Madonna della Clemenza, thereby making a decisive contribution to the revival of its cult. At the same time, Treter emphasized, in the chapel's decoration, the cardinal's involvement in the Council of Trent. Key parts of this article stem from research undertaken in Rome in April-May 2003 and January 2007.
