Late Medieval Italian Art And Its Contexts

Joanna Cannon's scholarship and teaching have helped shape the historical study of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian art; this essay collection by her former students is a tribute to her work.

Material culture is not static: objects are created, used and re-used, sometimes for centuries, and their lives interact with those of the people who made and used them. The essays in this book discuss the ‘social lives’ of objects in late-medieval and renaissance Italy, ranging from maiolica, through sculpture and prostitutes’ jewellery, to miraculous painted images. Demonstrates the continued life of these objects well past the deaths of their creators and patrons. Contains a series of original contributions by young scholars, representing a broad range of approaches.

A series of papers delivered at a conference with the same name in 1988 at the University of Notre Dame. It considered the relationship between politics and the literary and visual arts. Political scientists and anthropologists focus on the institutions that express power relationships.

Buildings and their surrounding spaces play a role in formulating the collective identity of an urban population. The history of architecture, and urban history, can be studied through cityscape paintings and other artwork. The character and greatness of a city, perhaps lost to modern historians, can be recognized. In this text, four key issues are discussed in the study of change in architectural imagery and urban identity: the Roman artists' role in 14th-century painting in Tuscany, the Tuscan-Byzantinian relationship from the mid- to late 13th century, "naturalistic" representation of medieval painting, and the meaning behind the stylistic changes that coincided with the bubonic plague in the 14th century. Surveying the architectural imagery in narrative paintings, the text focuses primarily on Rome, Assisi, Siena and Florence from circa 1250 to circa 1390. The book details the relationship between art and cityscape, as well as analyzes historical artistic periods via painted portraiture of architecture. Included are 115 photographs, illustrations and maps.

This book draws on architectural and archaeological analysis to consider the form, function, use and meaning of late medieval lodging ranges. While we know a great deal about most elements of the late medieval great house, we understand very little about their lodging ranges, and even less on their contributions to the lived experience of the household and wider society. Why were lodging ranges built, for example, and how were they used? It is this gap in our knowledge which the present book aims to fill. It draws on archaeological and architectural analysis of lodging ranges to show that they were some of the finest living spaces within the great house, built as accommodation for high-ranking members of the household. Their low-, even single-, occupancy rooms, accessible via individual doors, were innovatory, showing how the idea of privacy developed. The explicit displays of uniformity upon the lodging ranges' symmetrical facades were juxtaposed with variations within. Surviving lodging ranges (including Wingfield Manor, Middleham Castle and Dartington Hall) are examined, alongside the lost example of Caister Castle, demonstrating how lodging ranges simultaneously reflected and shaped medieval life; the author argues that their very form and stones, and their manipulation of space, enabled them to have multi-faceted functions, including the representation of multiple and even conflicting identities.

The city of Siena, one of Italy's major artistic centers, was home to many celebrated painters, among them Duccio, Simone Martini, Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti, Sassetta and Beccafumi. This generously illustrated book provides a survey of Sienese painting from 1260 to 1555, an era of extraordinary artistic creativity in the Tuscan city. Art historian Diana Norman addresses the style and artistic technique of Sienese painters throughout the three centuries and explores why paintings were made, where they were originally seen, and how they were used and enjoyed by their audiences. The book focuses on works of art made for Siena itself, many of which are still to be seen within the city. Norman organizes the discussion around types of commissions and throughout the book situates the paintings within the context of the political, social, and religious circumstances of late medieval and renaissance Siena.

The art of Renaissance Siena is usually viewed in the light of developments and accomplishments achieved elsewhere, but Sienese artists were part of a dynamic dialogue that was shaped by their city’s internal political turmoil, diplomatic relationships with its neighbors, internal social hierarchies, and struggle for self-definition. These essays lead scholars in a new and exciting direction in the study of the art of Renaissance Siena, exploring the cultural dynamics of the city and its art in a specifically Sienese context. This volume shapes a new understanding of Sienese culture in the early modern period and defines the questions scholars will continue to ask for years to come. What emerges is a picture of Renaissance Siena as a city focused on meeting the challenges of the time while formulating changes to shape its future. Central to these changes are the city’s efforts to fashion a civic identity through the visual arts.

In this volume Anthi Andronikou explores the social, cultural, religious and trade encounters between Italy and Cyprus during the late Middle Ages, from ca. 1200 -1400, and situates them within several Mediterranean contexts. Revealing the complex artistic exchange between the two regions for the first time, she probes the rich but neglected cultural interaction through comparison of the intriguing thirteenth-century wall paintings in rock-cut churches of Apulia and Basilicata, the puzzling panels of the Madonna della Madia and the Madonna di Andria, and painted chapels in Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria. Andronikou also investigates fourteenth-century cross-currents that have not been adequately studied, notably the cult of Saint Aquinas in Cyprus, Crusader propaganda in Santa Maria Novella in Florence, and a unique series of icons crafted by Venetian painters working in Cyprus. Offering new insights into Italian and Byzantine visual cultures, her book contributes to a broader understanding of cultural production and worldviews of the medieval Mediterranean.