This is the first book to consider the role of confraternities in the patronage and function of art works, a significant phenomenon that has been virtually ignored in scholarship to date. The interdisciplinary essays gathered in this volume examine the painting, sculpture, architecture, drama, and spectacle commissioned by these organizations and also demonstrate the unique historical and ritual contexts in which they were experienced. The role of women and youths in confraternities, the evolution of devotional practices, confraternities and urban planning, and the age's view of charity and philanthropy are among the many topics addressed in this volume. Offering new approaches to understanding confraternal art, this study sheds new light on the most vital forms of corporate patronage in early modern Italy.