#thomas lawrence

Pulling up this movie I completely expected to only encounter Sister Agnes as the one woman we see in the trailer, the conclave a space that has been kept from the female members of the church. Now, color me surprised when I started the movie and most of the establishing shots we got were focused on all the women working in the Vatican.

And it is such a deliberate choice, it does the film a disservice not to talk about it.

Because while Cardinal Lawrence is having his fifteenth breakdown during sequestering and Bellini finds the ambitious asshole within himself, Ray does all the leg work, and Bel---- we see the women work.

We see the kitchens, we see them cook, we see them stand aside. Most of the time when the Cardinals are conspiring it is the women who interrupt because they are busy working, walking, running errands.

And there is power in that.

I think it is very deliberate how often (and with such lingering gaze) the camera shows us the lives of the other half - partially to connect to the wider themes of the movie, on how Bellini asks for women to get more power but never thanks them, and how Benitez stumps them all by thanking the women preparing their meals when asked to say the prayer (considering his own probably tumultuous relationship to gender within the church).

But it also stands in direct opposition to a long tradition in story telling: servants don't exist. How often the heroes of a regency romance are "alone" because the two hand maidens and three maids don't really count.

Conclave doesn't do that.

It doesn't let us look away.

Between all the petty drama, the politics, and the real life consequences of the conclave, we never stop looking at the people doing all the work.

Yes, we follow the ups and downs of Lawrence and Co, but in doing so the movie reminds us again and again of the women working the kitchen.

The Portrait of Pope Innocent XIV and Cardinal Lawrence (2025)

An homage to Jacques-Louis David's 1808 portrait of Pope Pius VII and Cardinal Caprara during Napoleon's coronation that depicted the Pope's stressful moment as he was forced by Napoleon to travel to Paris.

In this piece I envision that Pope Innocent XIV’s papacy faces some resistance from the traditionalist faction and the weight of it is evident on both their faces.

He wears the Roman chasuble (I used elements of the design by Lisy Christl) and Lawrence wears his pectoral cross (by Riccardo Penko) pinned to his cassock in order to appease the opposition by superficially adopting traditional aesthetics while he implements Church reforms, inspired by the real life reception of Pope Leo XIV by online Trads despite very clearly continuing Pope Francis’s legacy. 

Vincent was also “forced” into the papal throne when he was elected Pope, leaving behind his flock in Kabul, adding to his melancholy.

This will be in my Comic Frontier 21 prints catalog, and is the first in a series of art history inspired Conclave fan art that I have planned for a future personal zine project. International sales and shipping for my other prints are still in the works, but I'll post an update once all is set!