Popes, Cardinals, and Byzantine Icons in 15th-Century Rome

This contribution aims to investigate how Byzantine icons permeated the Roman context in the second half of the fifteenth century, both in the spiritual and the temporal spheres. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked a turning point; however, even before that date, Byzantine works—mainly manuscripts and sacred objects—had already reached the West. In Rome, in particular, Cardinals Bessarion and Pietro Barbo, who later became Pope Paul II (1464–1471), owned “Greek” icons, though for different reasons. Public devotion was primarily Marian, while private devotion reveals other choices.