Ichikawa, Kayoko (2015) Guido da Siena’s narrative panels and the Madonna del Voto : the formation of the Marian civic identity in Sienese Art c.1260. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the reconstructed altarpiece formed by the Madonna del Voto, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the twelve narrative panels dated circa 1267 and attributed to Guido da Siena, currently dispersed in museums in Europe and America. The reconstructed altarpiece is vital to the study of early Sienese art because of its association with the Madonna del Voto in Siena cathedral, the most venerated icon believed to be once on the high altar. If proven, it represents a significant rediscovery of an altarpiece commissioned to commemorate the miraculous intercession of the Virgin who granted Sienese victory over Florence in 1260 at the Battle of Montaperti, giving birth to Siena’s identity as ‘the City of the Virgin’. Moreover, it reveals a more comprehensive view of the precedent of the complex altarpiece, the Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna dated 1308-11. However, the unconventional format and the iconographical programme of Guido’s reconstructed altarpiece has been criticised, and its original location on the cathedral high altar is questioned.

The four chapters of this thesis reassessed the validity of the reconstruction of Guido’s altarpiece and its original location on the high altar by combining the methodological tools of altarpiece studies and pictorial narrative studies. Chapter 1 clarified that the reconstruction is highly probable from a technical viewpoint. Chapter 2 proposed an alternative interpretation of the historical documents suggesting its original location on the high altar. Chapters 3 and 4 examined the two extra-biblical episodes (the Ascent of the Cross and the Coronation of the Virgin), which are often associated with Franciscan commissions, and argued that they were selected to emphasise the Virgin’s intercession. The reconstructed altarpiece of exceptional format and iconographical selection was thus probably an invention for the important commission for Siena cathedral where art embodied the Marian civic identity.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > ND Painting
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Guido, da Siena, active 13th century
Official Date:	September 2015
Dates:	Date Event September 2015 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of History of Art
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bourdua, Louise, 1962-
Extent:	xxiv, 235 leaves
Language:	eng

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