The Artistic Patronage of the Confraternities of Schiavoni/Illyrians in Venice and Rome. Proto-National Identity and the Visual Arts (original) (raw)

Throughout her career, our esteemed and now retired colleague Dr. Lavrič published fundamental studies about the role of religious confraternities as patrons of art. 1 Based on her own distinguished scholarship and the large amount of archival material that still requires examination, she realized that it would be prudent to open up her investigation to a group of scholars, whom she included in the project. She also invited the Faculty of Theology at the University of Ljubljana to participate, understanding from the outset the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration and the seamless integration of art history with history and theology. Ana Lavrič's many years of meticulous archival work introduced to Slovenia an almost unexamined field to which she contributed groundbreaking studies. 2 Furthermore, she encouraged