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Record Number:
4931
Author(s)/Creator(s):
Contributor(s):
Title:
A Spectacular Celebration of the Assumption in Siena
Source:
Renaissance Quarterly 58, 2 (Summer 2005): Pages 435 - 463.
Description:
Article Type:
Journal Article
Subject
(See Also)
:
Art History- Painting
Feastdays- Mary, Virgin, Saint- Assumption (August 15)
Iconography
Literature- Drama
Mary, Virgin, Saint- Assumption
Patron Saints
Siena, Siena, Italy- Baptistery- Vecchietta, Painter- Assumption of the Virgin
Staging of Drama
Award Note:
Geographic Area:
Italy
Century:
15
Primary Evidence:
Illustrations:
Ten figures. Figure One View of the altar and font (Siena, Baptistery). Figure Two Vecchietta, "Assumption of the Virgin" and botola (trapdoor or tunnel), 1450-1453 (Siena, Baptistery). Figure Three Drawing of the longitudinal section of Siena Cathedral and Baptistery. Figure Four Bronze grate covering the "botola" opening in a cathedral presbytery step, 1490 (Siena, Cathedral). Figure Five Agostino di Duccio, "San Bernardino in Glory," 1457-1461 (Perugia, Oratorio di S. Bernardino). Figure Six Vecchietta, "Twelfth Article of the Apostles' Creed," 1450-1453 (Siena, Baptistery). Figure Seven Vecchietta, "Botola" interior with painted figure, 1450-1453 (Siena, Baptistery). Figure Eight Vecchietta, "Fifth- Eighth Articles of the Apostles' Creed," 1450-1453 (Siena, Baptistery). Figure Nine Vecchietta, "Assumption of the Virgin," 1462 (Pienza, Cathedral). Figure Ten Vecchietta, "Assumption of the Virgin," 1455-1465 (Montemerano, S. Giorgio).
Table:
Abstract:
This essay addresses the significance of the Assumption of the Virgin fresco in the Baptistery of Siena and the existence of an adjacent tunnel that connects the Baptistery to the Cathedral above. The traditional celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin in Siena is described; previously unpublished documents stating that a play of the Assumption was performed add new details to the picture. Other contemporary Sienese religious dramas, some little-known to modern scholars, are discussed to illustrate what the play of the Assumption could have entailed. It is proposed that the tunnel, or trapdoor, was used to conceal ropes that raised an effigy of the Assunta during the feast-day Mass.
Related Resources:
Author's Affiliation:
Conference Info:
- , -
Year of Publication:
2005.
Language:
English
ISSN/ISBN:
00344338