Saint Dominic Giving the Rosary to Pope Pius V 1600 - 1700

This drawing depicts Saint Dominic presenting a rosary to Pope Pius V, but its date and origin are unknown. What meanings can we draw from the encounter of these two figures in pen and brown ink? Dominic was the founder of the Dominican order in the 13th century. Pius V was a Dominican friar who became pope in the 16th century. Seen from this perspective, this work of art reflects the institutional history of the Catholic Church. But this is not all. Pius V was pope during a period when the church was experiencing great internal divisions. The papacy sought to reinforce its authority through a variety of means, including art. The rosary itself, as a string of prayer beads, came to be seen as a symbolic weapon against the enemies of the church. Here, it becomes a potent symbol of the renewal of faith. To better understand such an image, art historians examine not only the internal visual language of the image, but its wider social and institutional context.