Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 17801
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Murphy , Kevin J.F.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Lilium inter spinas: Bianca Spini and the Decoration of the Spini Chapel in Santa Trinita [The author argues that Bianca, the widowed daughter of a wealthy and powerful member of the Spini family, commissioned an altarpiece for the family chapel with references to her personal identity. As a widow who evidently chose not to remarry, Bianca struggled with her husband's family for restitution of her dowry. The frequent suspicions about unmarried women's virtue seem to be answered in the Spini altarpiece painting of the Assumption by the Virgin's purity and authority. Title note supplied by Feminae.]
  • Source: Italian History and Culture 8, ( 2002): Pages 51 - 65.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Altarpieces Art History- Painting Chapels Florence - Church of S. Trinita- Spini Chapel Neri di Bicci, Painter - Assumption of the Virgin Patronage, Artistic Patronage, Ecclesiastical Spini, Bianca, Widowed Daughter of Francesco di Neri Spini Spini Family
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Five figures. Figure One Photograph of the church of Santa Trinita, looking into the nave and the Spini Chapel. Figure Two "The Annunciation," Fresco (Florence, Santa Trinita, Spini Chapel). Figure Three Neri di Bicci, "The Assumption of the Virgin," tempera on wood, circa 1455-1456 (Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada). Figure Four Photograph of the Palazzo Spini, detail of a corner formerly known as the Spini loggia (Florence, Piazza Santa Trinita). Figure Five Domenico Ghirlandaio, "Raising of the Roman Notary's Son," fresco, 1483-1486 (Florence, Santa Trinita, Sassetti Chapel). The Spini palace and loggia are represented in the background of the painting.
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  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 11232463