The Political Meaning of Coppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna and Child in Siena
1990; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 29; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/767101
ISSN2169-3099
Autores Tópico(s)Byzantine Studies and History
ResumoCoppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna del bordone in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Siena is one of the leading monuments of the Tuscan duecento. Signed and dated 1261, this image of the Virgin as Maria Regina was apparently the first important painting executed after the momentous victory of Ghibelline Siena over Guelph Florence at Montaperti in September of 1260. This paper argues that Montaperti was among the important factors that shaped the iconography and the meaning of the painting. Communal support for the Servite order both before and after the battle was motivated in part by their special devotion to the Virgin, to whom the Sienese had dedicated their city and to whom they attributed the victory. Moreover, Servite devotion stressed the Virgin as Maria Regina, a politically resonant iconographic type in Central Italy. And there is evidence that the prior general of the order during those same years, Fra Jacopo da Siena, supported the Ghibelline cause. In the years immediately following Montaperti, Coppo's panel must have been viewed as an affirmation of the Sienese victory. Understanding its meaning allows us to characterize the links among the political, religious, and aesthetic lives of thirteenth-century Italian cities.
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