Siena and the Virgin: Art and Politics in a Late Medieval City State

This richly illustrated book explores late medieval Sienese art and its celebration of the Virgin Mary as both an object of religious affection and a focus of civic pride. The author examines how art was created, commissioned, and understood by the citizens of Siena and the surrounding contado, and she offers a new understanding of Marian art and its political function as an expression of civic ideology.