Picturing carnal temptation and sin in Italian post-Tridentine imagery

Images of male saints defending their chastity against transgressive women were increasingly produced in post-Tridentine Italy - a period when Catholic dogma, through Church reform, emphasized the superiority of the virginal state and the danger of carnal desire. The images show the female gender as an immediate danger to the patriarchal order, eager to corrupt innocent, pious men by inducing them to engage in the sin of fornication. In this thesis, temptation scenes from the lives of various male saints are studied. The material consists of paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures, all produced in Italy during the 'long seventeenth century'.