Reverence and Heresy: The Illustrations of Printed Editions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Cinquecento Venice

Abstract

The cinquecento was an era of immeasurable change within the Venetian Republic and across Europe, as the continent shed the last few remnants of the Middle Ages through mass transformation and development. During this epoch of tumultuous change, Ovid’s Metamorphoses gripped the imagination of many, becoming one of the most influential texts of the period. In this thesis, I set out to question how the illustrations of vernacular printed editions of Metamorphoses changed throughout the course of the sixteenth century in Venice, especially in relation to shifting attitudes towards classical mythology within a Catholic society. xxiv The iconography in printed editions of Metamorphoses developed and shifted in line with the Venetian Republic’s main religious and political concerns, primarily the surge in Catholicism’s political and religious power. After 1547, Venice underwent an enormous cultural shift towards a stronger adherence to the Catholic faith. This shift was deeply reflected in the illustration of vernacular printed editions of Metamorphoses which increasingly became dominated by Christian interpretations.