The first extended study of the painting of Florence and Siena in the later 14th century, this book presents a rich interweaving of considerations of connoisseurship, style, iconography, cultural and social background, and historical events.

For almost 500 years, from the late Middle Ages into the 17th century, the Italian city of Siena was a thriving center of trade, learning, and fine art. This magnificently illustrated book is the first to celebrate Siena's influential and impressive artistic heritage.Informative essays are illuminated by a wealth of exquisite color reproductions, including numerous specially photographed color details and two dazzling foldouts. The book begins with the emergence of the distinctive Sienese style in the mid-1200s -- emphasizing brilliant color, elaborate pattern, and elegant goldwork -- and spans the refined work of the late Baroque period.Illustrated and discussed are the paintings, frescoes, altarpieces, and other works of such early Sienese masters as Duccio di Buoninsegna, Simone Martini, and the gifted brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti. Featured too are Sienese artists working in the Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque styles, among them Sassetta, Domenico Beccafumi. Francesco Vanni, and Ventura Salimbeni, to name but a few.

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Return comes a profoundly moving contemplation of the relationship between art and life. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND EVENING STANDARD After finishing his powerful memoir The Return, Hisham Matar, seeking solace and pleasure, traveled to Siena, Italy. Always finding comfort and clarity in great art, Matar immersed himself in eight significant works from the Sienese School of painting, which flourished from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Artists he had admired throughout his life, including Duccio and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, evoke earlier engagements he’d had with works by Caravaggio and Poussin, and the personal experiences that surrounded those moments. Including beautiful full-color reproductions of the artworks, A Month in Siena is about what occurred between Matar, those paintings, and the city. That month would be an extraordinary period in the writer’s life: an exploration of how art can console and disturb in equal measure, as well as an intimate encounter with a city and its inhabitants. This is a gorgeous meditation on how centuries-old art can illuminate our own inner landscape—current relationships, long-lasting love, grief, intimacy, and solitude—and shed further light on the present world around us. Praise for A Month in Siena “As exquisitely structured as The Return, driven by desire, yearning, loss, illuminated by the kindness of strangers. A Month in Siena is a triumph.”—Peter Carey

The city of Siena, one of Italy's major artistic centers, was home to many celebrated painters, among them Duccio, Simone Martini, Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti, Sassetta and Beccafumi. This generously illustrated book provides a survey of Sienese painting from 1260 to 1555, an era of extraordinary artistic creativity in the Tuscan city. Art historian Diana Norman addresses the style and artistic technique of Sienese painters throughout the three centuries and explores why paintings were made, where they were originally seen, and how they were used and enjoyed by their audiences. The book focuses on works of art made for Siena itself, many of which are still to be seen within the city. Norman organizes the discussion around types of commissions and throughout the book situates the paintings within the context of the political, social, and religious circumstances of late medieval and renaissance Siena.

This book provides a new perspective on Sienese painting after the Black Death, asking how social, religious, and cultural change effect visual imagery and style. Judith Steinhoff demonstrates that Siena's artistic culture of the mid- and late fourteenth century was intentionally pluralistic, and not conservative as is often claimed. She shows that Sienese art both before and after the Black Death was the material expression of an artistically sophisticated population that consciously and carefully integrated tradition and change.

An essential visual overview for students and readers with an interest in Sienese art, history, and Renaissance culture. For two centuries, the city-republic of Siena was home to a brilliant succession of painters who produced some of the greatest masterpieces of all time. This overview by Timothy Hyman is an essential introduction to this extraordinary artistic tradition. Taking a broadly chronological approach, it moves from the fourteenth-century Siena of Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti brothers to the fifteenth-century city of Sassetta and Giovanni di Paolo. Hyman combines perceptive visual analysis of the distinctive styles and conventions of Sienese painting with clear explanations of traditional techniques, such as fresco and tempera. The works are also placed in their social and religious context through discussion of Siena’s system of government, its civic consciousness, the importance of the Franciscan movement, and the cults of local saints. An accomplished writer, curator, and practicing artist, Hyman brings his breadth of knowledge, experience, and personal enthusiasm to this brilliant, extensively illustrated, and newly revised overview of Sienese art.