The eleven papers in this volume present a series of case studies of major works of art either produced in Sien, Florence or Padua or executed by artists associated with the three cities. Contributors include: T Benton (The three cities compared: Urbanism) ; C Cunningham (The design of town halls) ; D Norman (Duccio's `Maestà') ; C Harrison (The Arena Chapel: Patronage and authorship) ; C King (Effigies: Human and Divine) ; T Benton (The design of Siena and Florence Duomos) ; D Norman (The paintings of the Sala dei Nove in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena) ; D Norman (Change and continuity in Marian altarpieces) ; C King (Women as patrons: Nuns, widows and rulers) . These two volumes together form the basis of an Open University undergraduate course in art history.

Siena, Florence and Padua were all major centres for the flowering of early Italian Renaissance art and civic culture. The three communities shared a common concern for the embelishment of their cities by means of painting, sculpture and architecture. The eleven papers in this volume re-examine and re-assess the artistic legacy of the three cities during the 14th century amd locate the various works of art considered within their broader cultural, social and religious contexts. Contributors include: D Norman (Patrons, politics and art) ; C Harrison (Giotto and the `rise of painting') ; C King (The arts of carving and casting) ; T Benton (The building trades and design methods) ; D Norman (Art and religion after the Black Death) ; C King (The trecento: New ideas, new evidence) .

This study offers a substantial introduction to the world of Catherine of Siena (1347-80), her works and the way her followers responded to her religious leadership and legacy. Although much scholarship has dealt with her visionary reputation, this volume, written by experts in Catherinian studies, highlights her image as a church reformer, peacemaker, preacher, author, holy woman, stigmatic, saint and politically astute person. Furthermore, it assesses the manuscript tradition of works by and about Catherine of Siena. Few overviews of the historical and cultural circumstances of Catherine of Siena exist in English. A Companion to Catherine of Siena, therefore, makes accessible hitherto elusive details of this Sienese saint’s life and works. Contributors include: Allison Clark Thurber, Beverly Mayne Kienzle, Blake Beattie, Carolyn Muessig, Diega Giunta, Eliana Corbari, F. Thomas Luongo, George Ferzoco, Heather Webb, Jane Tylus, Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Silvia Nocentini, and Suzanne Noffke. .

The I AM statements exclusive to the Fourth Gospel are seen as the attempt of the author(s) of that Gospel to present the nature and purpose of the earthly life of Jesus by engaging the imaginative faculty of the reader. Succeeding generations of artists are considered as undertaking a similar task by engaging in an imaginative dialogue with the text. There are five narratives that are peculiar to the Fourth Gospel: The Wedding at Cana, the Woman of Samaria, the Woman Taken in Adultery, the Raising of Lazarus, and the Washing of Feet. Five paintings based upon each narrative are considered in context. These are taken from the early fourteenth century (Duccio and Giotto) to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (Max Beckmann and the contemporary Icon writer, Constantina Wood). A sense of the loss experienced by the western church under the sanctions of the Protestant Reformation against visual imagery is conveyed. This leads to a suggestion that a reassertion of the role of the aesthetics of Christian worship might be a unifying factor for a generation jaded by the pedantry that divides the Christian Church.

In this book, Brian Bishop simply pauses to look at fifty-seven beautiful images that feature the life and death of Jesus and the supper at which he appeared three days after his burial to two broken-hearted disciples. He finds the visual approach to the gospel stories rewarding and attempts to place the paintings in some historical context as an aid to understanding, but, essentially offers pauses for thought and reflection upon world-changing events. The book may be dipped into as time and interest allows. The beautifully produced color images of wonderful works of art provide constant companionship.