111-263/363 Siena and its Environs: The Sacred and Secular Cityscape 1260 - 1460

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Subject Description:

This subject considers the secular and religious art, cityscape and landscape of the city of Siena in the medieval and Renaissance periods as expressions of secular and sacred meaning. Topics to be considered may include: civic ritual as an expression of the city's identity; signs of power and prestige in forms of secular architecture; civic patronage; the role of the mendicant orders; the civic, confraternal and personal devotion to the Saints and the Virgin Mary; the depiction of mystical phenomena; images as a tool of propaganda key civic and religious monuments; and the role of art in enriching the devotional experience of the worshipper. The subject is structured around site visits and projects dealing with such matters as: the religious, geographical, architectural, and social ways in which the inner and outer boundaries of the city are defined; signs of the Roman city and their medieval significance; the cults of Saints. Bernardino and Catherine; evidence of devotion to a particular local Saint such as St Ansanus or St Agostino Novello; mapping the ritual space of, and between, the Duomo and Baptistery; reconstructing the medieval Duomo and projects for its enlargement.

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Prescribed Texts:

• Norman, D. (ed), Florence and Padua, Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, Yale University Press 1995.
• Os, H.W. van, Sienese Altarpieces 1215-1400, Groningen 1984.