The Influence of a Patron
Just how much of an influence did patrons have over commissions?
When it came to religious objects, patrons had less artistic freedom. [14] They had to conform to the religious ideology, and ensure that their commissioned items focused on teaching religious truths. [15] However, they maintained a vast majority of control over secular artistry. [16]
Female patrons would sometimes have male, religious advisors to instruct them on how a commissioned piece should be constructed. [17] However, this monstrance has no mention of an advisor.
Artists could’ve interpreted religious iconography in their own way. It is a fair question to ask if the saints were depicted to Petrucci’s liking or not. Her identity as a female, however, could explain the presence of a fair number of female saints depicted on the stem.
__________________
[14] June Hall McCash, The Cultural Patronage of Medieval Women (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996): 105.
[15] Ibid, 106.
[16] Elizabeth Carson Paston, "Imagined Patronage," in The Bayeux Tapestry and Its Contexts: A Reassessment (Boydell and Brewer, 2014): 65. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt6wp9gx.10.
[17] Holly Flora, "Patronage," Studies in Iconography 33 (2012): 210. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23924284.