The religious dimension of an early modern portrait is not always obvious upon first impression. Given portraitureвЂ™s historical relationship with sacred imagery вЂ“ in the form of donor portraits, ex-votos, and icons вЂ“ as well as contemporary perceptions of salvation and the role of the family in achieving deliverance, the religious visual cultural in the home may have influenced, at least at times, the creation, display, and ultimately, understanding of so-called independent portraits. 4 I argue that in the context of the pious household, portraits may have functioned as part of a domestic devotional network to establish and reinforce the religious identity and public prestige of families and individuals, all while securing salvation. 3 By considering the domestic interior as a devotional environment of which the portrait was a part, this essay challenges traditional notions of portraiture as a secular, and even autonomous, art form. 2 Devotional images of the Virgin Mary, Christ, or saints hung on walls of both bedchambers and more public entrance halls, and religious goods, such as paternosters, devotional jewellery, prayer books and benches, and occasionally even altars, further added to the sometimes dense material culture of piety and prayer in the home.

1 This essay aims to answer BurkeвЂ™s call by examining portraits in the Venetian domestic interior, which typically contained, as I have argued elsewhere, вЂprops of identityвЂ™ that were spiritual in scope. Thirty years ago, Peter Burke urged scholars of early modern Italy to envision portraits of the period not in museums, as we often encounter them today, вЂ but in their original setting, the houses or вЂњpalacesвЂќ of the upper classes вЂ™ and part of a larger culture of consumption oriented towards articulating the social role of individual and family.

16th century portraiture