With a little help from his friends

Abstract

The Rosary Madonna is a monumental altarpiece by Caravaggio (1571-1610) which hangs today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (fig. 1).2 Painted in Rome circa 1601,3 it shows the Virgin commanding St Dominic to distribute rosaries to the unshod supplicants who clamour to fondle the beads. While affirmatively Tridentine, the Rosary Madonna bears Caravaggio s hallmarks of chiaroscuro and realistic detail in the pilgrims dirty feet.4 The painting s first known display context is the Dominican church in Antwerp (St Paul s),5 to which it was gifted by a coalition of patrons spearheaded by Rubens (1577-1640).6 This article demonstrates how this corporate venture was underwritten and thus characterised by friendship. Just as palaces in Renaissance Florence were held to embody the personalities of their occupants, so the Rosary Madonna reflected the social capital and good taste of Antwerp s elite circles, out of which the coalition grew.