The Brothers Campi: Images and Devotion

The brothers Giulio, Antonio, and Vincenzo Campi (leading artists in the North Italian town of Cremona in the second half of the sixteenth century) supplied religious paintings to a wide range of clients both in their hometown and else-where in the dukedom of Milan. Their work stands out for its unusual choice of subject matter, a high degree of naturalism, and a directly accessible presentation. With the religious paintings of the Campi brothers as its point of departure, this book explores the way pictorial representations were used in the context of the Catholic reformation. It was precisely in northern Italy, where influences from northern Europe and central Italy converged, that religious reforms translated themselves into visual art in unexpected ways. Ample attention to the original public of the paintings brings to light the role these works played in the religious perception of their earliest users.