Fifteenth-Century Sienese Art in Its International Setting: A Case Study of Cross-Cultural Exchange in Italy and Beyond

Author

Maria Lucca, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

9-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Art History

Advisor

James M. Saslow

Committee Members

Amanda Wunder

Maria H. Loh

Daniel Savoy

Subject Categories

Architectural History and Criticism | Arts and Humanities | History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology | Urban, Community and Regional Planning

Keywords

Italian Renaissance, Sculpture, Architecture, Cross-Cultural Exchange, Siena, Urbino, Milan, Naples

Abstract

Scholars often frame the Republic of Siena as isolationist and inward-looking, yet from its beginning in 1262 the city-state was internationally vital, sending artists to work in foreign cities and calling upon foreign artists to do significant work in Siena. Although Siena temporarily retreated from this internationalism to a period of relative cultural autonomy in the mid-Trecento, in the early Quattrocento it re-opened the gates of its medieval walled city to artistic interchange between Sienese and Florentine sculptors, setting in motion the dramatic shift that occurred in the mid-Quattrocento. Sienese sculptors embraced the Renaissance artistic humanism flourishing in Florence and Rome and conversely Florentine artists were receptive to Sienese artistic innovations. This study will demonstrate that, in terms of sculpture and architecture, Siena was no Tuscan backwater but a revitalized city-state due not only to the presence of Donatello but also to the elevation of their native son, Aenas Silvius Piccolomini, to the papacy (Pius II, 1458-64). His Papacy funneled much patronage, funds and energy into Siena. Pius also encouraged the revival of antiquity and an interest in Renaissance humanism, resulting in the burgeoning all’antica commissions in Siena.Further, the canonization of two local saints, Bernardino (1450) and Catherine of Siena (1461) had a rejuvenating effect on the already rich tradition of Sienese mysticism, spurring many artistic commissions. My dissertation focuses on this cultural exchange between Siena, Florence, and Rome in the mid-Quattrocento. It will provide the first comprehensive study of the little-known cultural history of the intertwined political, religious, and artistic patronage networks linking not only Siena, Florence, and Rome but also Lucca, Urbino, Bologna and Naples that spurred the cultural transfer driving the Sienese sculptural/architectural Renaissance.

Recommended Citation

Lucca, Maria, "Fifteenth-Century Sienese Art in Its International Setting: A Case Study of Cross-Cultural Exchange in Italy and Beyond" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5596