111-485 Siena and its Environs: The Sacred and Secular Cityscape 1260-1460 (Hons)

Note

Special entry conditions apply. Places are limited. See Department for further details.

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

To have satisfied entry requirements for Honours in Art History

Semester

Contact

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; civil 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.

Assessment

One 6,000 word essay.

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.