Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


The Franciscans and Art Patronage in Late Medieval Italy

The Franciscans and Art Patronage in Late Medieval Italy

The Franciscans and Art Patronage in Late Medieval Italy

Author:
Louise Bourdua, University of Warwick
Published:
March 2011
Availability:
Available
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9780521281287

Looking for an examination copy?

If you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact [email protected] providing details of the course you are teaching.

$54.00
USD
Paperback
Out of Print
Hardback

    In this book, Louise Bourdua examines how Franciscan church decoration developed between 1250 and 1400. Focusing on three important churches - San Fermo Maggiore, Verona, San Lorenzo, Vicenza and Sant'Antonio, Padua - she argues that local Franciscan friars were more interested in their own conception of how artistic programs should work than merely following models for decoration issued from the mother church at Assisi. In addition, lay patrons also had considerable input into the decoration programs. These case studies serve as a multiform model of patronage, which is tested against other commissions of the Trecento.

    • First substantial study of the subject of Franciscan art
    • Appeals to a wide range of scholars and readers (those interested in art, cultural and religious history)
    • Sheds light on Veneto art

    Reviews & endorsements

    "This pioneering study addresses a burgeoning area of art – historical enquiry with some extremely profitable results."
    -Burlington Magazine (UK)

    "...an exemplary combination of archival documentation and visual analysis."
    -Quaderni d'italianistica

    "Bourdua provides a welcome amount of detail about what and how imagery in some Franciscan churches was produced. Scholars have found great difficulty in demonstrating broad conceptions about Franciscan art in Italy because the material is vast but poorly documented. Bourdua's book offers excellent fodder for the debate about Franciscan patronage to continue."
    -Jane C. Long, Roanoke College, Sixteenth Century Journal

    "The Franciscans and Art Patronage in Medieval Italy is a thoughtfully crafted and pointed study, effectively combining documentary evidence, Franciscan ideals, and art and architecture to support clear conclusions about the inner workings of patronage and production in the Veneto. Information on the history of the Franciscan order and aspects of the Franciscan life is smoothly integrated as necessary, and contributes significantly to the work's relevance to medievalists across the humanities."
    -James Vincent Maiello, UC Santa Barbera

    "One of the strengths of Bourdua's study is her meticulous mining of useful material from pertinent notarial and ecclesiastical records...[Bourdua's] volume make[s] valuable contributions to Franciscan studies and to the history of late-medieval art in Italy. Even bookshelves sagging under the weight of the 'veritable industry' of books on Franciscan art should make room for [this].
    -Anne Derbes, Hood College, Journal of Medieval Studies

    See more reviews

    Product details

    March 2011
    Paperback
    9780521281287
    256 pages
    255 × 179 × 13 mm
    0.61kg
    70 b/w illus.
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. The Franciscans, poverty, property and benefaction
    • 2. San Fermo Maggiore, Verona: a northern response to Assisi?
    • 3. San Lorenzo in Vicenza: the friars, the donor, the procurators and the artist
    • 4. Sant'Antonio in Padua.
      Author
    • Louise Bourdua , University of Warwick

      Louise Bourdua is an Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Warwick. She has contributed articles on aspects of Mendicant art and patronage to The Burlington Magazine and Papers of the British School at Rome, among other publications.