The Political Meaning of Coppo Di Marcovaldo Madonna and Child in Siena

The Political Meaning of Coppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna and Child in Siena
Author(s): Rebecca W. Corrie

Source: Gesta, Vol. 29, No. 1 (1990), pp. 61-75
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of
Medieval Art
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/767101
Accessed: 11-07-2017 08:41 UTC
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The Political Meaning of Coppo di
Marcovaldo's Madonna and Child in Siena*
REBECCA W. CORRIE
Bates College
Abstract ...........
7f
.... . . . . . . . . . . .
Coppo 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 - w7-:-
Maria Regina was apparently the first important paint-

ing executed after the momentous victory of Ghibelline .................. ...........
Siena over Guelph Florence at Montaperti in Septem- oh.
ber of 1260. This paper argues that Montaperti was

among the important factors that shaped the iconog- pf:-. ..... .....
z-0
raphy and the meaning of the painting. Communal ...........

...... ....
- : . A
. ..... . . . . . . . . .
support for the Servite order both before and after the ... .... ....
battle was motivated in part by their special devotion " 0"'f

I..............................
..
35.1 . ...
to the Virgin, to whom the Sienese had dedicated their

city and to whom they attributed the victory. Moreover, P'a
Servite devotion stressed the Virgin as Maria Regina, a so

M?
INS,
C
Wo...
Mom K'
politically resonant iconographic type in Central Italy. ffiff':

MOE
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 imme-
diately following Montaperti, Coppo's panel must have ............ ........... ....... ......
W-W
been viewed as an affirmation of the Sienese victory.

Understanding its meaning allows us to characterize t
the links among the political, religious, and aesthetic

lives of thirteenth-century Italian cities.
Zwk
0-
1-a
The Madonna and Child in the church of the Servi di On

-S1":-'."x
M. WK
Maria in Siena, known as the Madonna del bordone, was All
signed and dated by the Florentine painter, Coppo di

.............
....
Marcovaldo, in 1261 (Fig. 1). As a result, in part, of its

firm date and its association with a leading artist, it is
cited frequently in surveys of early Italian painting. Yet
ARM ow UNA
our knowledge of the image remains superficial, and our . . . . . . . . . . . .
Em
appreciation of the painting and its meaning has been slow ....
JONI
to emerge.
...........
...................... .
Some of the difficulty may lie in the fourteenth- ..... .... ....
century repainting of the faces and hands of the major

figures. To modern eyes, the result is a startling and
somewhat unappealing disjunction of styles. Although the
original faces remain below the visible surface and X rays
FIGURE 1. Coppo di Marco
and photographs have been published, it is hard to envis-
dei Servi, Siena, 1261 (photo
age the original whole.1 Other problems are rooted in our
meager knowledge of the earliest location of the painting.
The panel has always been associated with the Servite on that site is not clea
order, and was undoubtedly made for that group. But the parish church called S
church in which the image now hangs, Santa Maria dei dedicated to the Virgin
Servi, is for the most part a fifteenth- and sixteenth- who saw the panel, altho
century building. The nature of the first Servite structureits use was not restricte
GESTA XXIX/ 1 ? The International Center of Medieval Art 1990 61
More problematic than a failure to consider the physi- subsequently repeated in many Sienese paintings: a long
cal setting of this painting has been the omission of dress with a tight bodice and sleeves, and a cloak joined in
religious and political issues from its discussion. The date front.'o The deep maroon dress and cloak are decorated
1261 means that it was completed shortly after the as- with chrysography, a technique common in mosaics, but
tounding victory of the Sienese, Ghibelline, army over the possibly used here for the first time in Tuscan panel
Florentine, Guelph, alliance at Montaperti on 4 September painting, as Hills recently pointed out." The Virgin also
1260.3 Sienese chronicles and local traditions claim that wears a yellow head scarf, a motif found in Northern
the battle was won with the intervention of the Virgin European
and images of the Virgin, frequently in combination
the assistance of several hundred German knights sent bythe sort of dress and cloak seen here. This head scarf,
with
Siena's Hohenstaufen liege, King Manfred of Sicily. And as we shall see, is distinguished by its decoration with
so far as we know, Coppo's panel was the earliest inroundels the containing heraldic Hohenstaufen eagles. A final
series of imposing images of the Madonna and Child motif is the child, bare-legged and seated on a large,
painted for Sienese churches in the decades after Monta- yellow, striped cloth. As I have argued elsewhere, this
perti.4 Yet no serious attempt has been made to relate the child was probably intended to emphasize the Servite
iconography of the painting to this event, which placed the devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin, for the cloth
image quite literally in the eye of the storm generated by apparently refers to the shroud of Christ.'2
the battle for control of central Italy that pitted the The weight of Coppo's iconographic program must
Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, his heirs, and their have been heavy, for it is evident on several levels. For
Ghibelline supporters against the thirteenth-century popes example, the eucharistic message of the child would have
and their Guelph allies. Nor have we considered its use by been clear to most worshipers including the Servites. But
the Servi di Maria, one of the new religious orders founded the following discussion focuses on a specific array of
in the thirteenth century. motifs that define the Virgin's place as the Queen of
In practice, historians have limited their discussion of Heaven, a role that was central to the Servites and to the
the Madonna del bordone to a few issues. Coppo di Mar- city of Siena itself. I shall argue that in Siena, one of the
covaldo was a Florentine artist with a well-documented largest cities in Europe and on the verge of an inter-
career. His name even appears in the list of shield-bearing national role, a new order received a painting that, in its
soldiers conscripted for the Florentine army in 1260, sizeand
and aspects of its iconography, competed with the
historians have speculated that he painted the Sienapowerful panel images in the apse mosaics and frescoes of other
in exchange for his release from the Sienese prisonsmedieval that capitals. Behind the production of such images
held Florentine soldiers following their defeat.5 Coor- in thirteenth-century Italian cities must have been innu-
Achenbach published an extensive study of the documen- merable "hidden agendas" that contributed to the meaning
tation associated with Coppo and, with Sandberg-Vavala, of the images, not only in the formulation of the iconog-
produced a body of attributions that has lasted toraphy the visually present in them, but in the significance they
present day.6 Only Derbes's recent work on Coppo'shad pas-for the people who made them and saw them. Among
sion iconography has given due consideration to the Flo-factors, we shall note that the Servite community of
other
rentine painter's remarkable comprehension of Byzantine Siena included the prior general of the entire order, Fra
art.7 Aside from these contributions, most scholarly work Jacopo da Siena, and that the panel saluted their special
has addressed the panel simply as a marker in the general devotion to the Virgin, who had rescued the city at
evolution of Tuscan painting.8 In other words, weMontaperti. have
discussed its place in art history, but not its meaning and Neither the scale nor the iconographic type of the
function as an image. Madonna del bordone was new to Italy. Large images of
The point of the following discussion, then, isthe tosame type can be found in the mosaics and frescoes of
address some hitherto overlooked aspects of the Siena churches in Rome, Sicily, and the East. Certainly the
Madonna, primarily problems in iconography. That the
inspiration for an enthroned Virgin of this size lay in the
image Coppo painted for the Servites carried a powerful examples set by the images of the Virgin and Child found
message is implied by the large number of distinctive in Roman apse decoration. These models would have
elements it contains. In a panel that measures approxi- included the images in the Early Christian apse mosaic at
mately seven feet three inches by four feet one inch, we Santa
are Maria Maggiore, replaced at the end of the thir-
presented with a full-length Virgin seated on a lyre-back teenth century, and the mosaic of Santa Maria in Dom-
throne resting on foliate columns. Two small angels in But the reference is more specific. Variations of the
nica.13
Byzantine court costume hover behind her. Her feet throne
rest with the lyre-back had existed in Rome from the
on a cushion decorated with a diamond pattern. The time of the sixth-century fresco in Santa Maria Antiqua,
Virgin holds the child to her left, our right, in a position especially in churches dedicated to the Virgin.14 Images of
that resembles the Byzantine type known as the Hodege- the Virgin with the lyre-back throne are fairly consistent
tria, although here the Virgin does not point to the child in their use of elements that heighten the imperial aspect
but holds his foot instead.9 She wears a costume that was of the Virgin: crown, red shoes, and court costume, among
62
other details. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries sev- associate with his name. As with the choice of the Virgin's
eral images with the lyre-back throne can be found in costume, it is difficult to say whether the choice of model
Rome. In Santa Maria in Trastevere and Santa Maria was a matter of "modernizing" for political or religious
Maggiore, the Virgin is enthroned with Christ on impact or a matter of convenient models. Even the combi-
a lyre-
back throne, and in Santa Maria Nova and Santa Maria nation of the Hodegetria side-pose and the lyre-back
in Cosmedin, the Virgin and Child appear on thrones with throne could have been taken from a single Byzantine
lyre-backs very similar to the one that Coppo used."5 example. Coppo's turning of the Virgin has been described
Nilgen has suggested that by the twelfth century these as space-producing and therefore innovative. But a num-
images, clearly depicting a type that can be called the ber of Byzantine images in manuscripts show the Virgin
Regina Coeli or Maria Regina, were intended to underline Enthroned combined with the turned pose, and a lapis-
the Virgin's role as the patron of Rome and had specific lazuli relief in Moscow has a similar Virgin Hodegetria on
political content.16 Since I shall argue here that Coppo's a lyre-back throne.21 The foot cushion or subpedaneum
painting also had political implications, Nilgen's argument with a diamond-shaped pattern can be found in Byzantine
is significant. depictions of the Virgin, imperial figures, and even Zeus.22
Undoubtedly, the lyre-back throne, a major element Undoubtedly the closest parallel for Coppo's throne is
in Coppo's panel, contributed to the meaning of the in the fresco decoration of the monastery of St. John the
images in which it was used. This distinctive motif can be Theologian on Patmos, usually dated to the beginning of
found in both Byzantine art and the art of the West, and the thirteenth century (Fig. 2).23 Here is the same lyre-
in both the East and the West it is usually characterized by back, made in a bead-and-reel pattern, straightening the
a back with side supports that curve out near the shoul- curve of its sides slightly before the cross bar. The bar is
ders, and then turn in and out again at the top. The straight, and from it hangs a silk cloth held in place by
earliest examples are Byzantine, and have been enumer- fine threads, which provides the illusion that we are look-
ated, especially on coins, by Breckenridge and Cutler, anding at a real throne. The throne has foliate supports and
included most prominently the mosaic of Christ Enthroned heart-shaped ornamentation across the seat, as Coppo's
at Saint Sophia in Istanbul."7 Although Cutler and Brecken- does. Finally, in both images the Virgin sits on a single
ridge proposed different complex meanings for the lyre-cushion with four brocaded corners, an unusual motif,
back in the East, the common factor in both interpreta- since most cushions are shown with only two. Once again,
tions is the use of the throne type with an array of regalin both Coppo's panel and the Patmos fresco the Virgin
figures as well as Christ and the Virgin, suggesting that the and Child are attended by angels in court regalia. Whether
lyre-back throne had a strong royal component.18 images of the Virgin and Child on the lyre-back throne in
In the West, as Cutler has noted, the lyre-back has athe East were viewed as images of a Maria Regina or not,
slightly divergent and apparently simpler history, and a Byzantine image of the Virgin on the lyre-back throne
there is less debate over its meaning.19 The fresco of the must have been interpreted in this manner by Western
Virgin and Child in Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome is the artists and patrons. At the very least, Coppo's honing of
earliest extant example of the lyre-back throne in aniconographic details through a Byzantine model serves as
image of the Virgin. She is dressed in what appears to evidence of a desire to make the iconography as specific
be imperial regalia, although there is disagreement overand important as possible.
whether Maria Regina is an appropriate title for this type An example of this iconographic density is the motif
at such an early date.20 Nevertheless, scholars, including of the acanthus-leaf supports on the base of the throne,
Cameron, writing about this early period, agree that thederived from Byzantine models, and spread through Tus-
concept of the Virgin as Queen existed in the Byzan-cany and Umbria by Coppo and his contemporaries.24 It
tine world as an appropriate complement to the strong served to underline the meaning of the image, for the
imperial-celestial metaphor of Byzantine iconography, andacanthus throne support is an example of what has been
that by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the West, called "cosmic foliage," and refers to the idea of enthrone-
the motif was associated with the Regina Coeli or Maria ment in paradise.25 A motif used in antiquity, the acanthus
Regina as we noted above. support appeared in the thrones of rulers as well as the
throne of the Virgin in the East and West, and in the
Although the size of the image and the type of throne
found in Coppo's Maria Regina argue that the Sienese thirteenth century was used in Europe in actual imperial
painting referred to the apse mosaics of Rome, it is thrones.26 In images of the Virgin on the lyre-back throne,
apparent that Coppo moved away from the early medieval, the acanthus appears to heighten the identity of the Virgin
indeed Early Christian, regalia and throne of the Roman as Queen of Heaven.
Virgins and refined portions of the image by using Byzan- Clearly, then, Coppo di Marcovaldo painted a Maria
tine models, for the closest parallels for many of the Regina or Regina Coeli for the Servites of Siena in 1261.
details in Coppo's throne occur in Eastern examples. This But this was not a simple commission. Coppo, a Florentine
is in no way surprising in light of the precise knowledge of soldier, presumably a prisoner of war, was a Florentine
Byzantine art that informs all of the paintings that we painter of great reputation. He had worked on the Florence
63
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FIGURE 2
the beliefs of the Servites. Texts used by the order in t

baptister
in Pistoi
thirteenth century stress this aspect of the Virgin. Amon
career.2
the earliest is a manuscript, Codex G in the Convent
San Clemente in Siena, dated around 1271, and publishe
imitatio
time bo
in 1967 by Branchesi.3o The manuscript is a gradual, an
appended to it are several Latin texts based on the Son
modern
of Solomon and other portions of the Old Testament. T
decision
tant pain
first, Ave novellafemina, includes the lines:
Florenti
reputati
Daughter of heaven; . . . Betrothed to God
the Commanding
Flor the heavens, Queen of Rulers...
at that
You are the king's, tongue of the law; m
The
Counsel of God.31 ful
coincidence of the tenets of the Servite order and the
intensified devotion of the city of Siena to the Virgin, A second hymn in the same manuscript refers to th
following Montaperti. The Servi di Maria, or Servants of as "Mother of the King and Queen of Heaven...
Virgin
the Virgin, had been founded in Florence in the 1230s, Shining
but throne of Solomon."32 A third text refers to h
it was in the decade after 1250 that the order was firmly
as "Empress of Angels."33 Allusions to royal status als
established in Siena.29 Thus it is not surprising thatappear
they in the standard hymns to the Virgin in this gradua
received some sort of image of the Virgin around 1260.andAs other Servite manuscripts, including the Regina co
in the Roman examples, the lyre-back throne wouldand havethe Salve regina.34 A rubric in one Servite manuscript
been particularly appropriate in a church dedicated in to Siena
the states that the Servites were to use Beata mater et
Virgin. But the choice of a Regina Coeli for the Servites
innupta Virgo, regina mundi, intercede pro nobis ad domi-
must have been more deliberate, for an image that empha-
num, as the capitulum at vespers.35 The same manuscript
sized the role of the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven provides
suited for the use of the hymn Ave regina celorum, ave
64
domina angelorum, a text that actually describes our
painting.16
Clearly, Coppo's painting suited the Servite devotion
to the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven. But a number of
these texts, especially the Ave novella femina, have a
distinctly political flavor, and we cannot assume that the
Servites were oblivious of the references. Similarly, we
cannot assume that the local members of the Servite order
were the only audience addressed by the painting. Exe-
cuted immediately after the Sienese victory at Montaperti,
the painting must have functioned as an announcement of
the city's success and its enlarged relationship with the
Virgin to whom the victory was attributed.
Tradition attributes the dedication of the city to the
Virgin to the battle of Montaperti.37 A Sienese chronicle
known in several versions from the first half of the fif- 9k
teenth century, and probably based on a thirteenth-century

original, records that Bonaguida Lucari, appointed head
of the city government on the eve of battle, immediately
dedicated the city to the Virgin with the following words:
Oh Madonna, most holy, Queen of Heaven

we miserable sinners entreat your mercy...
Lucari reminded his fellow citizens that they had two

patrons:
We have already commended ourselves to King Man-

fred, now it appears to me, that we ought in all sincerity
to give ourselves, our goods and our persons, the city
FIGURE 3. Coppo di Marcovaldo, Madonna del bordone, detail of
and the contado, to the Queen of Life eternal, that is to
Fig. 1.
say, to our Lady Mother the Virgin Mary.38
The chronicles also offer a second analogy linking

earthly and celestial rulers, for they note that Lucari and was recognized by the Sienese as the cloak of the
brought the keys to all the gates of the city to the Virgin.42 Such a vision appears to be the translation into
cathedral, and Schevill comments that "by virtue of it physical experience of an image of the Virgin known best
Queen Mary became their sovereign liege."39 This last may as the Schutzmantel Madonna, in which the Virgin pro-
be a somewhat exaggerated reading, for, as recent scholars tects supplicants with her cloak.43 This type appeared in
have pointed out, Siena's dedication to the Virgin must the second half of the thirteenth century in both the East
date from a slightly earlier time, since city seals with her and the West, and was known to the Sienese. For example,
image and a date of 1251 have been recorded.40 Neverthe- Duccio used it for his Madonna of the Franciscans, usually
less, Montaperti appears to have been the seminal event, dated in the last decades of the thirteenth century.44 Never-
confirming the distinctive bond between the religious and theless, for images of the Virgin as their city patron, the
the civic that characterized Siena and its art in the thir- Sienese put the enthroned Virgin on civic seals.45
teenth and fourteenth centuries. This quality probably One final element suggests that Coppo's Siena Ma-
received its clearest expression in the great Maesti fresco donna was intended to glorify not only the Virgin but also
painted by Simone Martini in the early fourteenth century the success of the city and the imperial cause. The surface
for the Sala del Mapamondo of the Palazzo Pubblico, of for the head scarf worn by the Virgin is decorated with
it has an inscription that warns the city's leaders of the eagles in roundels (Fig. 3). In his extensive discussion of
Virgin's ever-watchful presence.41 the use of the eagle as an imperial symbol, Schramm,
A second legend regarding Montaperti emphasizes among others, observed that a distinctive version of the
the special relationship between the city of Siena and eagle the came into use in the late twelfth century, and con-
Virgin. According to the same chronicles, on the night tinued to be used during the reigns of Frederick II and his
before the battle a white mist spread across the battlefield son, Manfred, King of Sicily, as well as their German
65
successors.46 It was Manfred who had come to the aid of
Siena in 1260, and in whose name Siena had Won the
battle against the Florentines.
According to Schramm, the Hohenstaufen eagle has
flanged wings and a tripartite tail. It has a single head
turned to the side and a prominent beak. Schramm noted
Kii
its appearance in manuscripts, sculpture, coins, and seals,
including many dated between 1233 and 1261.47 The cata-
logue of the recent Hohenstaufen exhibition points out
that imperial cities of Northern Europe often used this
eagle for their seals and coins and, according to David
Herlihy, Pisa, which like Siena had long been allied with
the imperial cause in Italy, used the same image on coins
i~iit
and seals for most of the thirteenth century.48 There can
be little doubt that the eagles on Coppo's head scarf were i!il!i i~i~ ~i I ! !bo....
intended to be recognized as Hohenstaufen symbols. Al-
though some eagles and other birds had appeared in floor
decoration and in the sculpture programs of pulpits as
references to St. John the Evangelist, Coppo's bird can be
identified as the distinctive, flanged-tail, Hohenstaufen n~iiiiiiii( n iI !i:Or
type.49 Furthermore, it conforms to the use of eagles in
repeat patterns in textiles made for the Hohenstaufen family
and their adherents. A number of eagle textile fragments
remain from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, most of
them attributed to Sicily and many associated with the
Hohenstaufen house.50 One of the most important docu-
ments regarding the use of the imperial eagle in roundels on
clothing is an imperial seal of about 1215 depicting Frede-
rick II enthroned wearing a tunic entirely covered in round-
els containing the Hohenstaufen heraldic eagle, a repeat
pattern also found on Frederick's grave mantle.5 Of the --Map"
imperial regalia that remain to us, the clothing most like

that in the 1215 seal is the so-called Adlerdalmatica found
among the Sicilian regalia at the Schatzkammer in Vienna
(Fig. 4). Although scholars usually attribute the roundels to
Germany around 1300, the 1215 seal demonstrates that
they continue a thirteenth-century practice, and it gives us a
sense of textile decoration in Frederick's time.52 Apparently
even Rome recognized the imperial significance of these
textile patterns, for a papal inventory of 1295 describes an
eagle cloth as "pannus imperialis."53
Evidence in paintings also indicates that with few
exceptions cloths decorated with eagles were limited to
imperial areas. In Tuscany the earliest examples are Pisan,
where the motif occurs at mid-century in a duecento panel
FIGURE 4. The Adlerdalmatica, Italian, thirteenth century, with later
depicting scenes of the life of St. Catherine of Alexan- additions. Schatzkammer, Vienna (photo: Kunsthistoriches Museum,
dria.54 Once again the eagles are in roundels on a robe. A
Vienna).
Pisan panel with St. Nicholas of Bari shows this saint's
robe with eagle roundels." At Siena, Guido da Siena used
eagle cloths in several paintings of the Virgin. In oneFirst, Orvieto's political alliances were ambiguous in the
example, the Virgin wears a shawl with eagles in roundels,
first years immediately after Montaperti." But it is also
significant that the eagle motifs appear here in a Servite
and in another the eagles decorate the cloth of her throne.56
Only in Coppo's Madonna made for the Servite orderimage. at It is not likely that Coppo, a Florentine and
Orvieto do we find the eagle cloth used in a city thatpresumably
lay a Guelph, introduced the motif without the
outside the imperial sphere.57 Two factors explain this. approval, indeed the prodding, of his patrons, and he does
66
not repeat the motif outside the order. What is far more and dove-like with a twig in its beak. This Servite Virgin,
likely is that the motif had continued in use within the then, was the Queen of Heaven, who protected the Sienese
Servite order. The Orvieto panel is usually given a date of in 1260 and gave them their victory.
1265, on the basis of the founding date of the thirteenth- Undoubtedly there was a political component to the
century building on the current site. But the Servites first commissioning of all of the large Sienese panels of the
received a building at Orvieto in 1259.59 Both the eagle Virgin and Child in the years after the battle of Monta-
motif and the painting's striking similarity to the Siena perti, for they celebrate the role of the Virgin as patron of
panel argue that the Orvieto panel was commissioned the city.66 But so far as we know, Coppo's was the first
while the order had a Sienese prior general, Fra Jacopo. one, and the history of the Servite order in Siena and its
In this case, 1265, the final year of his tenure, would be a relationship to the city make this situation comprehensible.
possible date for the panel, but it would be the latest Beginning in 1259 and continuing annually to 1262, the
possible date.60 city of Siena offered financial assistance to the order on
How did the eagle motif survive on images of the the condition that they move their monastery inside the
Virgin after the final defeat of the Hohenstaufen cause in city walls to the site of San Clemente.67 The largest sums
Italy in 1268? There can be little doubt that the eagle were offered in 1261 and 1262, and, as dal Pino has
continued to be recognized as a Hohenstaufen symbol. In pointed out, these payments must reflect the special interest
his Florentine chronicle, written in the following century, that the city had in an order whose primary function and
Villani stated that Siena won the battle at Montaperti devotion was the worship of the Virgin, who was also the
under the eagle banner of Manfred.61 Late trecento fres- most important patron of the city itself and had assured
coes in the Palazzo Pubblico use eagles, many in roundels, its survival.68 Even in the uncertain years before Monta-
as the symbol identifying Frederick Barbarossa and his perti, support for the Servites, in exchange for their physi-
62
imperial troops.62 And in a Tuscan chronicle written and cal presence within the city, was one way in which the
illustrated in the fifteenth century, thirteenth-century im- Sienese had demonstrated their dedication to the Virgin.
perial troops are identified by the eagles on their banners.63 The cathedral, also dedicated to the Virgin, and in the
Thus, although the eagle disappeared from coins and civic process of expansion through much of the thirteenth and
seals produced after the Hohenstaufen defeat in 1268, it fourteenth centuries, already had an important panel that
must have remained the symbol of a heroic past and a was not replaced until after the completion of its crossing,
source of civic pride. It would not have been removed around 1267.69 Thus the Servites, who had moved into the
from monuments where it already existed, in such images city in the year before the battle, would have been likely
as the Virgin and Child. recipients of an image that celebrated the victory.
There is also evidence that the Sienese Servites them-
It is possible to pinpoint the motivations for the
selves manipulated the eagle symbol and continued tocommissioning of Coppo's Siena panel even more accu-
invoke it after the Hohenstaufen defeat. There is a fasci-
rately. The prior general of the order of the Servi di Maria
between 1257 and 1265 was the Sienese Fra Jacopo da
nating passage in the Ave novella femina, written into the
Servite gradual of 1271: Siena, and events argue that he was a supporter of the
imperial cause, or at least was seen as one by the Pope and
A girl, you will be called great eagle his allies.70 In 1265, Fra Jacopo resigned or was forced
bearing in your beak the green twig from his office and replaced by the Guelph Fra Manetto at
fierce one of our side, who subdued wars.64 Lucca. The political basis of this action is clear, for in
1264 Fra Manetto was the prior of the Lucchese Servite
house, where he took part in meetings of Florentine
Translating this text is, at the very least, difficult, and its
meaning is ambiguous. The twig referred to could certainly Guelphs. Lucca had become the last Guelph stronghold in
be Christ. And it is not clear whether the Virgin, as Tuscanythe after Montaperti, and it was there that Florentine
one addressed here, is winning or suppressing wars. Guelphs, Yet possibly including Fra Manetto, had gone after
the poem belongs to the close of the Hohenstaufen period, their defeat by the Sienese at Montaperti in 1260 and their
and the word aquila must have brought the imperial house subsequent exile from Florence.v'
immediately to mind. Frederick II had named the town As a possible Ghibelline loyalist and prior general of
L'Aquila after his symbol, and imperial coins with eagles the Servites, Fra Jacopo could have commissioned Coppo's
were known as aquilini.65 Written down in a Sienese painting. In that way it would have proclaimed the Virgin's
gradual in 1271, the text may date before the Hohen- support for the imperial cause and the cause of the city of
staufen defeat in 1268, or it may refer to that defeat Siena. Here we have an excellent example of the problems
specifically. Whatever the date of its composition, this historians face in discussing the patronage of orders,
verse assumes a bond between the Virgin and the Sienese groups that are assumed to have common goals, but that
cause. Her role as Queen of Heaven is expressed in consist of individuals who have their own agendas, hidden
imperial terms, although the eagle is described as peaceful at least from twentieth-century historians. There is little
67
information about the number of individuals in this order, models were available. But Byzantine art as the style of
or their origins, and it is difficult to gauge their loyalties to the major Mediterranean capitals may have been of par-
family, city, emperor, or pope.72 Despite the work of ticular interest to cities on the rise, such as Siena after
Bowsky and many others on Siena, we lack the detailed Montaperti.7" A desire to rival other Mediterranean capi-
information now available on cities such as fifteenth- tals, and Constantinople in particular, might have furthered
century Florence.73 We do know a few things about Siena'sthe
imitation and importation of Byzantine and Byzan-
early Servites. In Florence, certainly, the order attracted
tinizing art.79
Finally, if Coppo provided some of the Byzantine
members of the aristocracy, and it is likely that the same
thing was true of the Servites of Siena.74 We also knowin his painting, how did he, a distinctly Tuscan
motifs
that the major financial support for the order was from
painter, come by them? The tendency of motifs such as the
shroud
the city government and that the government of the cityand the throne base with acanthus leaves to recur
remained Ghibelline until 1269." We can speculate, in then,
his work, and his extensive knowledge of Byzan
that Fra Jacopo and probably other members of the iconography in general, argue that he supplied icon
Sienese Servite group were loyal to their city and probably graphic material at his clients' request, or at least wo
to the imperial cause. It is certainly possible, however, that with them to develop programs suited to their needs
another individual either inside or outside the order was explanation for his thorough knowledge of Eastern
responsible for the commission of the panel shortly after may lie in the mosaics of the Florentine baptistery. A
Montaperti.76 In either case, some Servites, and Sienese from the decoration over the altar, the first major c
loyalists in general, would have seen a new church of an was probably the Last Judgment, where some of
paign
order dedicated to the adoration of the Virgin as Queen work
of was carried out between 1250 and 1260.80o Am
Heaven as the appropriate location for a great image of
works attributed to Coppo are sections of the Last J
the Virgin as the celestial benefactress of a political state.
ment, including the vast figure of Christ.81 In Florence
Although the Virgin on a lyre-back throne emphasizes may well have encountered artists and craftsmen bro
her place as Queen of Heaven, there is no reason to think
in to supervise the difficult technique, just as Vene
that the lyre-back throne itself can be construed as mosaicists
par- had been called to Rome by Honorius III
ticularly Hohenstaufen or a sign of the imperial side of earlier
the in the century.82
papal-imperial dispute. While the lyre-back may have For the Sienese, then, Coppo di Marcovaldo was the
been imperial in a Byzantine context, and emphasizedright the artist for this commission. In the same way, the Servi
di Maria, a new order, dedicated to the Virgin and headed
regal nature of the Virgin in the West, there is no evidence
by a Sienese prior general, provided an ideal focus for the
that the lyre-back in Italy referred to a specific ruler. Yet
this uncertainty does not diminish the political impact immediate
of expression of the adoration and gratitude that
the Virgin on the lyre-back throne. Nilgen's argument that
the Sienese felt for the Virgin after Montaperti. In its style
and imagery, this painting and those that followed it
by the twelfth century the Maria Regina image symbolized
the Rome of the popes, allows Coppo's Sienese version declared
of Siena's place in the Mediterranean world. Un-
the same subject to be seen as a challenge to the Roman or
doubtedly, the relative illusionism of a Byzantinizing style
suited the emotional needs of the Servites as it did those of
papal claim to her political protection.77 At the very least,
Coppo's painting functions as a parallel or competing other new religious movements, including the Franciscans
statement of her patronage. The use of a throne that and the flagellants. Yet this must have been coupled with a
provided the illusion that it depicted a "real" throne, and
need
a to express worldly success achieved with supernatural
Virgin's costume that mimics contemporary European re-
assistance, a need that led artists and their patrons through-
gal clothing, with its head scarf and cloak, suggests out thatTuscany and Umbria to translate well-known and
the Roman Queen of Heaven had been translated into resonant iconographic types into local versions of the art
thirteenth-century imperial terms, and in that sense stoodof Byzantium and its ambitious political and artistic suc-
facing the Roman images of the Virgin. cessors in Venice, Sicily, and the Crusader states.83
Was Coppo's painting intended to reach an audience
beyond Siena, Florence, and Rome? There may have been
an assertion of Siena's international standing in this large NOTES
panel. Indeed, the remarkably Byzantine imagery and style* An earlier version of this paper was presented as "Siena a
in the Madonna del bordone and the Sienese panels thatEast: The Question of Motivation," 1Ith Annual Byzantine
followed it may have been more than the slow spread of Conference,
a Toronto, Canada, October 25-27, 1985. I first ad
maniera greca facilitated by political contacts of the Cru- the problems of the paintings of Coppo di Marcovaldo in a
sader period. The expansion of the international Byzan-thesis written for Oberlin College in 1970, under the direc
John R. Spencer: Rebecca Wells Corrie, "The Relationship b
tinizing style in this part of Italy may reflect the fiscal andthe Art of Byzantium and the Art of Tuscany: An Analysis
political growth of Tuscany and Umbria in the thirteenth Byzantine Sources of the Paintings of Coppo di Marcovaldo
century. More money, more painting, and more Byzantine grateful to Bruce Cole, Thalia Gouma-Peterson, and John S
68
for their advice in the earliest stages of this work, and for more Sanese con documenti inediti Miscellanea storica sanese (Siena,
recent comments and suggestions to Professors Ernst Kitzinger, 1844), 31-98. It is the Langton Douglas version that Schevill quoted
Robert Nelson, and William Tronzo. in 1909. See: F. Schevill, Siena: The History of a Medieval Comune
(New York, 1964), 84-87 and 178-84, for an edition with an
1. C. Brandi, "Il restauro della Madonna di Coppo di Marcovaldo,"
introduction by W. Bowsky.
Bolletino d'Arte, XXV (1950), 160-70. This article describes the
recovery of the signature and date, lost during an earlier restoration. 4. Aside from a few panels painted in the first decades of the thirteenth
century, there is no firm evidence of earlier local panel painting.
2. The original location of the panel is problematic. E. Casalini,
John White and Henk van Os recently proposed that the 1262
L'ordine dei Servi di Maria e la sua nascita in Firenze (1233)
panel, now attributed to the San Bernardino Master but generally
(Florence, 1983), pl. V, writes that the panel was made for a little
in the style associated with the name of Guido da Siena, may be
church of the Servi di Maria on the via Romana at Siena, and
evidence of a school of Sienese painters established before 1260. But
ascribes its name, as do other scholars, to the practice of pilgrims
the extant paintings related to Guido's style are all later than
placing their palms or staffs (bordone) on the altar beneath the
Coppo's panel, and this suggests that Coppo's was the first of the
painting as they returned from Rome. (The present church is close
great images, whether it inspired subsequent Sienese schools of
to the Porta Romana, the main gate of the city.) But this charac-
painting or not. Thus there is reason to speculate that the battle of
terization of its first site is not certain. What we do know is that by
Montaperti spurred the commissioning of Coppo's panel and those
1261 the Servites were probably at their present site within the city
that followed it as well. See: J. White, Duccio: Tuscan Art and the
walls. The order had emerged in Florence and Pistoia in the 1230s
Medieval Workshop (London, 1979), 25-32, and H. van Os, Sienese
and 1240s and first appeared in Sienese documents in the decade
Altarpieces 1215-1460: Form, Content, Function. Vol. L. 1215-1344
after 1250, when funds were given to the order. In 1253 the order
(Groningen, 1984), 23-28. For more information on the San Ber-
received assistance for the building of a house and an oratorio. The
nardino panel, see J. Stubblebine, Guido da Siena (Princeton,
commune made a donation in 1255. And in 1259 and 1260 Siena
1964), 61-64, fig. 31. The date of 1262 is based on a lost inscription,
offered help on the condition that the order settle within the city
as was the date of Coppo's panel until its twentieth-century clean-
walls at the hill of San Clemente, which suggests that in 1260 they
ing. Indeed, the San Bernardino panel (now Siena Pinacoteca 16)
were outside the walls. Donations from the commune in 1261 and
has a history like that of Coppo's panel. It too was originally made
1262 suggest that they had moved inside. See: A. dal Pino, Un
for a group dedicated to the Virgin, the Compagnia di S. Maria
gruppo evangelico del duecento (Florence, 1969), 86-101; A. dal
degli Angeli, whose church was later rededicated to San Bernardino.
Pino, "Madonna Santa Maria e l'ordine dei suoi Servi 1. secolo di
Stubblebine questioned the date on the grounds that it was the year
storia (1233-1317ca.)," Studi storici dell'ordine dei Servi di Maria,
in which the tertiary Franciscans had founded the Compagnia, and
XVII (1967), 22; F. A. dal Pino, I Frati Servi di S. Maria dalle
he argued that they would not have had a building for it at that
origine all'approvazione (1233ca.-1304), Vol. L Storiografica-Fonti-
time. However his argument is not persuasive, for this situation
Storia (Louvain, 1972), 963-64. In his discussion of the documenta-
resembles that of the Servite order, which did not have a large
tion, Lusini described the transfer of the parish church of San
church by 1261, when Coppo's painting was finished. In the case of
Clemente to the Servites in 1259, and noted that we do not know
the San Bernardino panel we may have a second major painting
the condition of the building associated with San Clemente, although
made shortly after Montaperti for an organization dedicated to the
documents from the period indicate that it was in bad condition and
Virgin.
needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. He also noted that we
have no record of the form of the church of San Clemente, and that 5. See, for example, dal Pino, "Madonna Santa Maria," 22.
additional documents suggest that the rebuilding was still going on
in the 1270s, long after Coppo's painting was finished. See: V. 6. By far the most important work has been that of G. Coor-
Lusini, La basilica di S. Maria dei Servi in Siena (Siena, 1908), 2-3. Achenbach, "Coppo di Marcovaldo, His Art in Relation to the Art
A short review of the building's history can be found in Z. Pepi, La of His Time," Marsyas, V (1947-1949), 4-14; and "A Visual Basis
basilica di S. Maria dei Servi (Siena, 1970), 11-32. I am indebted to for the Documents Relating to Coppo di Marcovaldo and his Son
Professor Max Seidel (P. A. Riedl and M. Seidel, eds., Die Kirchen Salerno," AB, XXVIII (1946), 233-47. Sandberg-Vavala's major
von Siena) for the information that work on the compendium has contributions can be found in her still essential La croce dipinta
not yet reached Santa Maria dei Servi. The veneration of St. italiana e l'iconografia della passione (Roma, 1980, reprint of
Clement persisted. See the discussion of the high altar, a Corona- Verona, 1929), 755-65. Most of the recent literature on Coppo
tion of the Virgin with scenes from the life of St. Clement, painted continues to focus on the complex and frustrating problems of
between 1498 and 1501 by Bernardino Fungai, in K. Christiansen, duecento attribution. Typical is a somewhat unsuccessful attempt
L. Kanter, and C. B. Strehlke, Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420- by Boskovits to remove the Madonna and Child at Orvieto from
1500 (New York, 1988), 352-58. Coppo's oeuvre. Nevertheless, Boskovits is correct that the duecento
period needs review, and he provides an extensive bibliography and
3. The battle has been recounted by many scholars. Most writers refer interesting suggestions about the problems of Coppo attributions.
to an anonymous Sienese chronicle, La sconfita di Montaperti also See: M. Boskovits, "Intorno a Coppo di Marcovaldo," Scritti di
called La battaglia di Montaperti. This chronicle exists in several storia dell'arte in onore di Ugo Procacci (Milan, 1977), I, 94-105.
fifteenth-century versions, but all may be based on a thirteenth- More successful have been two attributions. The first is the fre-
century original. A discussion of the three fifteenth-century versions quently repeated attribution of sections of the Last Judgment of the
and a translation of the most crucial portions of the version in the Florentine Baptistery mosaics to Coppo. For convincing illustra-
Ambrosian library in Milan (Bibl. Amb. Cod., F.S.V. 23) can be tions, see: C. Ragghianti, Pittura del dugento a Firenze (Firenze,
found in R. Langton Douglas, A History of Siena (London, 1902), 1957), 69-76. Another possibility is the Pistoia panel of St. Francis
84-90. Langton Douglas also discusses the published Italian ver- with eight scenes of his life and miracles. See: M. C. Mazzi, Museo
sions including the most accessible, an edition of the Sienese version Civico di Pistoia. Catalogo delle collezioni (Florence, 1982), 91-94.
dated 1442 and included in G. Porri, ed., Ilprimo libro delle Istorie A recent attempt to attribute the panel from the Brancacci Chapel
Sanesi di Marcantonio Bellarmati; Due narrazioni sulla Sconfitta di of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence to Coppo is
Montaperto tratte da antichi manoscritta da Domenico Aldobran- dubious. See: Firenze, Palazzo Vecchio, Capolavori e Restauri
dini e Niccolo di Giovanni di Francesco Ventura; Cenni sulla Zecca (Florence, 1986), 424-34.
69
7. A. Derbes, "The Pistoia Lamentation," Gesta, XXIII (1984), 131- stad (Lawrence, Kansas, 1974), 1-9. He argues that the fifth-century
35, contains an accurate assessment of old and new literature on image included a lyre-back throne and depicted the Virgin in
Coppo. See also her dissertation: "Byzantine Art and the Dugento: imperial costume. This recreation contradicts S. Spain's contention
Iconographic Sources of the Passion Scenes of Italian Painted that the woman depicted in imperial costume at Santa Maria
Crosses" (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1980), 333-42. Maggiore is not the Virgin. S. Spain, "The Promised Blessing, the
Iconography of the Mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore," AB, LXI
8. J. Stubblebine, "The Development of the Throne in Dugento Tus-
(1979), 518-40. For Santa Maria in Domnica, see: W. Oakeshott,
can Painting," Marsyas, VII (1954-1957), 25-39. Stubblebine de-
The Mosaics of Rome from the Third Century to the Fourteenth
scribes Coppo's throne as an attempt to depict the illusion of space,
Centuries (London, 1967), pl. XX, fig. 14.
and thus a step in the direction of trecento painting. Perhaps as a
result of the meager attention given to Coppo's iconography, recent 14. For a survey of images with the lyre-back throne see: A. Cutler,
comments on the Siena painting have sounded somewhat like Crowe Transfigurations: Studies in the Dynamics of Byzantine Iconog-
and Cavalcaselle's nineteenth-century condemnation of Coppo as a raphy (University Park, 1975), fig. 15 for Santa Maria Antiqua.
decadent painter. H. van Os has described the child as seated on a
15. On the origin of the image in Santa Maria in Trastevere, see:
"half-inflated air mattress," and L. Steinberg commented that Cop-
E. Kitzinger, "Virgin's Face: Antiquarianism in Twelfth-Century
po's image "flashes the legs of the child." See: J. A. Crowe and
Art," AB, LXII (1980), 6-19. For Santa Maria Nova see Cutler,
C. B. Cavalcaselle, ed. by L. Douglas, A History of Painting in
Transfigurations, fig. 33. Oakeshott in Mosaics, fig. 174, dated the
Italy: Umbria Florence and Siena from the Second to the Sixteenth
mosaic of Santa Maria Nova, also called Santa Francesca Romana,
Century (London, 1903), I, 174; H. van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 25,
to 1161, associating the apse decoration with the rebuilding of the
and L. Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and
church in that year. But Matthiae has suggested a date in the second
Modern Oblivion (New York, 1983), 28.
half of the thirteenth century, and I am inclined to agree as Cutler
9. The meaning of the foot-holding gesture is not clear. For example it also appears to do. See G. Matthiae, Mosaici medioevali delle
could simply indicate the place where the nail of the Crucifixion will chiese di Roma (Rome, 1967), I, 319-20 and Cutler, 31. Among
go. What seems clear, however, is that it had some meaning for the other things, the standing child suggests that a twelfth-century date
Servites and for Siena, since it is repeated frequently through the is too early. If the Roman use of the lyre-back throne as a political
next several centuries in paintings made for Santa Maria dei Servi emblem is the prototype for such use in Tuscany and Umbria, we
and other Sienese churches. See: Lusini, La basilica, 29, 32, 35, and should still consider the possibility that the extant examples from
Christina de Benedictis, La pittura senese 1330-1370 (Florence, the thirteenth century may be part of a more widespread revival of
1979), figs. 1, 7, 8, 13, 19, 43, 68, 71, 72, 76, 86, 99, 102. the type. A comment by Stubblebine is relevant to the problem of
10. The costume appears to come from Northern European images of the relationship between Coppo's Siena panel and the images in
Rome at Santa Maria in Cosmedin and Santa Maria Nova. In
the Virgin, and may indicate an attempt to depict a celestial version
of the costume of a contemporary European queen. A comparison discussing the relationship between a panel associated with
da Siena, the London Courtauld Coronation of the Virgin, a
can be found in London, Hayward Gallery, English Romanesque
Art 1066-1200 (London, 1984), 70. That Coppo's panel used the Coronation in Santa Maria Maggiore, he argued that they
costume first and provided the prototype is suggested by its repeti-
both be based on a common model from the third quarter
tion in a painting in the cathedral at Pomarance that copies thirteenth century, possibly a fresco or large panel in Tus
Umbria. See Stubblebine, Guido da Siena, 83. This observation
Coppo's panel exactly and in Coppo's Orvieto Madonna for the
Servites. For Coppo's Orvieto panel see Boskovits, "Intorno." The be applied to the problem of the lyre-back throne in Ital
Sienese and Roman images share the distinctive double-cu
Pomarance panel is a remarkably close copy of Coppo's. See: E. B.
Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel Painting (Florence, 1949), shape, and may refer to each other or to a now-lost Tu
no. 26. Umbrian, or Roman example. If Coppo's image precedes th
Santa Maria Nova and Santa Maria in Cosmedin, we might
11. Hills suggests that Coppo introduced the technique of chrysography that the revival of the lyre-back throne in the second half o
to Tuscan panel painting. See: P. Hills, The Light of Early Italian thirteenth century in Central Italy began in Tuscany, and th
Painting (New Haven, 1987), 25. two Roman examples were a reassertion of Marian patron
12. As with the head scarf, the color yellow was probably intended to Rome. On the other hand, if the Roman images precede C
suggest cloth of gold. The bare-legged child on a large cloth may be as the most common dates argue, it may explain how the S
another motif introduced to Siena in Coppo's painting and con- became aware of the type, since the protector general of the
tinued in subsequent Sienese works, for its meaning is particularly was the cardinal-legate of Tuscany for Innocent IV and ca
suited to Servite devotion, and thus was probably devised initially deacon for Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Raniero Capocci. See:
for this painting. See: R. W. Corrie, "Coppo di Marcovaldo and the Pino, Un gruppo, 27, 82. Finally, if we are to understand com
Meaning of the Child in the Virgin Kykkotissa," presented at the the use of the lyre-back throne in the twelfth and thir
Joint Meeting of the XII Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies centuries, we may also have to integrate images such as t
and of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, twelfth-century Virgin and Child in the apse of the chur
University of Nottingham, March 26-March 29, 1988, to be pub- Monreale into the discussion. Once again, the Virgin sits o
lished. Portions of the paper were presented earlier as "The Byzan- lyre-back throne and, as in Coppo's painting, her feet in im
tine Iconography of a Madonna by Coppo di Marcovaldo," 10th red shoes rest on a cushion. She is flanked by archangels in
Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio, November Byzantine regalia. Like the Roman examples, this image, commis-
1-4, 1984 and "Marian Iconography: Byzantium and Italy in the sioned by a Sicilian king, appears to convey the celestial affirmation
Duecento," 3rd Ohio Conference on Medieval and Renaissance of earthly rule. Otto Demus has suggested that a Constantinopolitan
Studies, Cleveland, Ohio, October 11-13, 1976. model may lie behind the Monreale Virgin, but we should also
consider the possibility that the reference is to Rome. See: O. De-
13. For a proposal regarding the original apse mosaic at Santa Maria
mus, Mosaics of Normal Sicily (London, 1949), 310.
Maggiore, replaced at the end of the thirteenth century, see: J.
Snyder, "The Mosaic in S. Maria Nova and the Original Apse 16. U. Nilgen, "Maria Regina-Ein politischer Kultbildtypus?" Rimische
Mosaic of S. Maria Maggiore," Hortus Imaginum, Essays in West- Jahrbuch fiir Kunstgeschichte, XIX (1981), 3-33. She refers to the
ern Art (Festschrift for H. E. Wethey) ed. R. Engass and M. Stok- Maria Regina as the "Madonna of the Popes," p. 30.
70
17. J. D. Breckenridge, "Christ on the Lyre-Backed Throne," DOP, A. Cameron, "The Theotokos in Sixth-Century Constantinople,"
XXXIV-XXXV (1980-1981), 259, and Cutler, Transfigurations. A Journal of Theological Studies, XXX.1 (1978), 79-108 and S. Spain,
variety of examples can be found in the following sources: A. Cutler, "The Promised Blessing." Spain argues that the Virgin on the lyre-
The Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium (Paris, 1984), 222; Cutler, back throne at Santa Maria Antiqua was not a Maria Regina,
Transfigurations, fig. 26 and others; and A. Bank, Byzantine Art in despite her regalia, on the grounds that the concept did not exist at
the Collections of Soviet Museums (New York, 1977), figs. 155, 156, that time. In part, her argument is based on her desire to prove that
186, 197, 199, 210. On the Saint Sophia mosaic see: N. Oikono- the woman in imperial costume at Santa Maria Maggiore is not the
mides, "Leo VI and the Narthex Mosaic of Saint Sophia," DOP, Virgin. A recent article suggests that this figure is indeed the Virgin.
XXX (1976), 151-72. See: J. D. Sieger, "Visual Metaphor as Theology: Leo the Great's
Sermons on the Incarnation and the Arch Mosaics at S. Maria
18. Breckenridge stressed the imperial associations of the type and saw
Maggiore," Gesta, XXVI (1987), 83-91.
it as embodying the idea of synthronos, whether the two figures
were emperors or the Virgin and Child. See: Breckenridge, "Christ 21. V. Lazarev, "Studies in the Iconography of the Virgin," A
on the Lyre-Backed Throne," 259. Cutler described what he viewed (1938), figs. 15, 16, 33, 35, 44, 45, and others. A. Bank, By
as the true lyre-back of religious images as a reference to the Art, figs. 155-56.
musical instrument associated with Orpheus, and viewed the throne
22. Cutler, Transfigurations, fig. 26. (Athos, Panteleimon, co
type as a strictly symbolic form "associated with the Icarnation of
163v, Birth of Dionysius.)
the Word addressing the world from the lap of his Mother." See:
Transfigurations, 33, 50. Still, Cutler describes an image of the 23. A. Orlandos, "The Monastery of St. John the Theolo
Virgin on the lyre-back throne as "the earthly Mother of the King Patmos, the Architecture and the Paintings," Byzantine
of Kings," p. 19. A number of factors call Cutler's narrow definition European Art: Lectures (Athens, 1966), figs. 40, 43, in Gr
into question. His argument that the throne focuses on the child, A. Orlandos, "Fresques byzantines du monastere de Patmo
not on attributes of the Virgin, is based in part on his observation XII (1962), 285-302. Except for the panel in Pomarance
that she appears on the throne only with the child. He overlooks the n. 29) that copies the Siena painting exactly, no Italian
fact that she seldom appears on any throne without Christ. Further- including Coppo, repeated the throne back accurately. This s
more the distinctions in lyre-back shapes that he uses to rule out that the Byzantine model for the throne was in Siena, pos
some imperial examples may reflect local usage. Cutler and Brecken- the hands of the Servites.
ridge also disagree over whether there ever was an actual lyre-
24. The motif is distinctive. It consists of urn-shaped pairs of leaves
back throne. In his last statement on the subject cited above,
similar to the acanthus leaves on Corinthian capitals, especially
Breckenridge concedes that while the type may have been a memory
those seen in profile at the corners, and in depictions of such
by the thirteenth century, such a throne had once existed in
capitals in Byzantine painting. See: E. Coche de la Ferte, Byzan-
Constantinople. I am inclined to agree that at the very least artists
tinische Kunst (Freiburg, Basel, Wien, 1982), figs. 426, 772, 859,
in the thirteenth century believed that the throne was real, and that
992, and E. D. Maguire, "Range and Repertory in Capital Design,"
details such as the thread-hung silk cloths and bead-and-reel work-
DOP, XLI (1987), figs. A, 3, 4. In both Italy and the East the motif
ing on the lyre-back indicate this. Such details are comparable to
is used for throne bases. In addition to examples already cited, such
Byzantine thrones, including the one in the mosaic at Saint Sophia
as the Patmos fresco, there are other images with acanthus based
that looks like gilded wood. That the lyre-back type was replaced in
thrones in the East, and Tuscan and Umbrian painters of the mid-
the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in images made in
thirteenth century consistently used the foliate throne base in the
both the East and the West by wooden chair thrones argues that
contexts in which it appeared in the East. For example, an altar-
thrones in medieval paintings, as well as coins and royal seals,
piece in Perugia dated around 1280, has the combination of foliage
reflect real furniture. And the association of the throne type with
and white, pearl-like dots found on Coppo's throne base. See:
actual imperial regalia from an early date in Rome tends to cast
Stubblebine, Guido da Siena, fig. 90, and Francesco d'Assisi: Docu-
doubt on Cutler's negative response to Breckenridge's proposal of
menti e archivi codici e biblioteche miniature (Milan, 1982), 193-94.
an actual throne. Finally, while Cutler's Orpheus theory may ex-
A panel attributed to Coppo in Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence,
plain the origin of the throne type or at least its crystalization, it
the Madonna del Carmelo, also uses the acanthus form. See: Coor-
does not rule out the acquisition of an imperial connotation at an
Achenbach, "Coppo di Marcovaldo, His Art," figs. 7, 8, 9. There
early date as Cutler himself acknowledges (p. 50). Undoubtedly
are many Byzantine examples of this use of the acanthus motif. See:
Cutler is correct in his observation that Italian artists in the later
A. Daneu Lattanzi, Lineamenti di storia della miniatura in Sicilia
thirteenth century did not know what a real lyre-back throne
(Florence, 1968), fig. 17, Madrid, Bib. Nac. cod. 52, fol. 80 and
looked like, as we can see from the irregular shapes and details in
G. Vikan, ed., Illuminated Greek manuscripts from American Col-
the paintings that came after Coppo's. See Garrison, Italian Ro-
lections: An Exhibition in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann (Princeton,
manesque Panel Painting, figs. 26, 39, 203.
1973), fig. 58, Princeton University Library, cod. Garrett 3, fol. 12v.
19. In the West the type is almost always used for the Virgin and Child
25. Stubblebine touched on this interpretation in his discussion of
enthroned. However, in a few examples a version of lyre-back with
Italian duecento thrones, for he suggested that the foliate supports
less distinctly bent supports was used for images of the evangelists.
might be an indication of the spirituality or weightlessness of those
E. B. Garrison, Studies in the History of Medieval Italian Painting
(Florence, 1955), II, 38, fig. 22, illustrates a twelfth-century Roman
who sat upon them. See: Stubblebine, "The Development of the
Throne," 26, n. 6. But the meaning of these full, handsome leaves
manuscript, MS. Plut. 17, 27, fol. 6v, in the Laurenziana Library in
Florence. For a wall painting at Castel Appiano see: O. Demus, must be more specific, and there is good reason to argue that they
were intended to allude to the sculpted capitals on the columns of
Romanische Wandmalerei (Munich, 1968), pl. XXIX.
innumerable churches as well as to the representations of such
20. Cutler, Transfigurations, fig. 15. For a brief survey of the iconog-capitals in Byzantine paintings. This comparison is substantiated by
raphy of the Maria Regina, see: M. Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: the clearly articulated architectural columns with capitals on the
The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary (New York, 1976), 103-16. thrones of some of the wooden images of the Virgin as Throne of
She describes it as a primarily Western type. See also: M. Lawrence, Wisdom, illustrated by Ilene Forsyth in her study. See: I. Forsyth,
"Maria Regina," AB VII (1925), 150-61. The date of the emergence The Throne of Wisdom (Princeton, 1972), figs. 54, 55, 58, 59, 60,
of the type in either the East or the West is controversial. See: 91, 94, 98. The architectural metaphor has been argued on several
71
other fronts. Andr6 Grabar observed that in the East the choir or Coppo's use of the lyre-back at Siena set a precedent for the
chevet of a martyrium where we might find such capitals was often the lyre-back throne in Servite images. However, this use m
referred to as the throne of the martyr. See: A. Grabar, "La 'Sedia have been viewed as strictly Servite, but more likely, as in t
di San Marco', a Venise," CA, VII (1954), 24. Grabar also noted of the Roman images, as appropriate to churches dedicated
that the choir of a church could be called the throne of God. See: Virgin, especially those devoted to the Virgin as Maria
A. Grabar, "Le trine des martyrs," CA, VI (1952), 38-39. In the Many paintings attributed to Guido da Siena and his circle
same way, the placement of the Virgin and Child in the half dome versions of the costumes found in Coppo's panel and thron
of the apse in many churches in the East and the West provided a elaborate backs and foliate bases. See: Stubblebine, Guido da
visual reinforcement in an architectural metaphor for her raising or Siena, figs. 14, 31, 32, 39, 43. The one motif that seems to have been
enthronement on high. Acanthus-shaped foliage as an indication of exclusively Servite is the immense, striped cloth under the child, for
paradise is a theme found in a number of studies. See, for example, it is copied only in the Orvieto panel. Even the Pomarance painting,
K. Lehmann, "The Dome of Heaven," republished in W. E. Klein- which copies the Siena Madonna in nearly every detail, reduces the
bauer, ed., Modern perspectives in Western Art History (New York, cloth to the size of a hand-held mappa.
1971), 227-70; C. Lepage, "L'ornementation v6g6tale fantastique et
29. For sources on the early history of the Servite order, see above n. 3.
le pseudorealisme dans le peinture byzantine," CA, XIX (1969), 199;
The early history of the order in Siena is recounted in Lusini, La
and D. Winfield, "Some Early Medieval Figure Sculpture from basilica, 1-3.
North-East Turkey," JWCI, XXI (1968), 33-37, especially plates
30. Although the date of Codex G is not certain, the manuscript is
13-18, 220, 21. The architectural metaphor, indeed the architectural
or spatial experience, of images needs further investigation. For definitely thirteenth century, and a date around 1271 is likely, for
example, the description of the Virgin as a portal or window is well that is the date of related manuscripts in the archive of San
known. A discussion of such imagery in general can be found in Clemente, Siena. P.-M. Branchesi, "Libri corali del convento di
C. J. Purtle, The Marion Paintings of Jan van Eyck (Princeton, S. Maria dei Servi di Siena (sec. XIII-XVIII)," Studi storici sull'or-
1982), 54-58, 108-14, 147-48. Recent references to architectural dine dei Servi di Maria, XVII (1967), 137. I am indebted to Thomas
metaphors include W. Tronzo, "Between Icon and the Monumental Hayward, Humanities Reference Librarian of the Bates College
Decoration of a Church: Notes on Duccio's Maestcz and the Defini- Ladd Library, for his help in obtaining Servite periodicals and for
assistance with translations.
tion of the Altarpiece," Icon (Baltimore, 1988), 36-47, and R. S.
Nelson, "The Discourse of Icons, Then and Now," AH, XII (1989), 31. "Celi puella. . . Deo nubens, celis iubens, regina regnantium... Tu
144-57, especially 148-49. es regis glosa legis et dei consilium." Branchesi, "Libri corali,"
137-38.
26. In a most general sense, the elevation of the Virgin and Child
continued a tradition of kingship symbolism established in the 32. "Mater regis et regina," followed several lines later by the epithet,
ancient Near East, and discussed extensively in the writings of H. P. "Tronus candens Salomonis." Branchesi, "Libri corali," 140.
L'Orange. In a similar vein, Alfoldi and Lehmann have argued that
33. "Virgo, vite reparatrix, angelorum imperatrix." Branchesi, "Libri
foliate capitals on benches and chairs in Greek vase painting were corali," 143.
intended as symbols of eternal life. See: H. P. L'Orange, Studies in
the Iconograph of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World (Oslo, 34. Ibid., 154.
1953); A. Alf6ldi, "Die Geschichte des Throntabernakels," La Nou-35. L. Crociani, Le origine della spiritualita dei Servi di Maria (1233-
velle Clio, IX (1950), 557, figs. 12a and 12b; and P. W. Lehmann, 1304), (Florence, 1983), 43.
Samothrace: the Hieron (Princeton, 1969), I, 386, n. 236. In the
36. dal Pino, "Madonna S. Maria," 50. The Virgin as Queen of Heaven
thirteenth-century West, distinctly architectural columns with foliate
accompanied by a court of angels is the theme of the few comments
capitals were used on actual thrones, see: P. Schramm, Kaiser
on the iconography of Coppo's painting. See: dal Pino, "Madonna
Friedrichs II, Herrschaftszeichen (Gottingen, 1955), fig. 96.
S. Maria," 23, n. 59, for additional sources.
27. Coor-Achenbach, "A Visual Basis." 37. For the sources see above n. 4.
28. The closest copy of Coppo's painting is the Virgin and Child in the 38. Douglas, A History of Siena, 84-87.
parish church at Pomarance. The fragments of side-scenes revealed
39. For a narration of this tradition see "La sconfitta di Montape
in the cleaning of this panel two decades ago suggest that it should
tratta dalle cronache raccolte da Domenica Aldobrandini," in Porr
be considered in discussions of Coppo's iconography, for while
there is no evidence that his Siena painting had such scenes, II primo libro, 8-9. See also: Schevill, Siena, 84. On the Virg
role in Siena, see: H. C. Peyer, Stadt und Stadtpatron im mitt
documents record his painting other images of the Virgin with side-
alterlichen Italien (Zurich, 1955), 49-50.
scenes. See: Coor-Achenbach, "A Visual Basis," 245-46. The Poma-
rance painting had at least six and possibly twelve scenes from the 40. E. C. Liserani, Sigilli medioevali senesi (Florence, 1981), 3 and 18
infancy of Christ. The remains of the Visitation, the Presentation, n. 9.
the Angel Speaking to Joseph, the Magi before Herod, and the 41. W. Bowsky, A Medieval Italian Commune. Siena Under the N
Flight into Egypt are easily discerned today. Pomarance was subject
1297-1385 (Berkeley, 1981), 286 provides a full transcription
to Volterra through most of this period, and between 1260 and 1266
English. For the Italian, see: A. Martindale, Simone Martini
must have been Ghibelline. Thus we have to wonder at the
Complete Edition (New York, 1988), 207.
political significance of this copy of the Sienese panel. On the
Pomarance panel, see: Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel 42. Langton
Paint- Douglas, A History of Siena, 93.
ing, no. 26, and "Pomarance," in G. Caciagli, ed., Pisa 43.
(Pisa,
C. 1970),
Belting-Ihm, Sub Matris Tutela, Untersuchungen zur Vor
III/2, 315-92, pl. IX. There is no evidence that this panel was madeder Schutzmantelmadonna (Heidelberg, 1976), 68-69.
schichte
for a Servite house. The Servites first copied aspects of the Siena
44. Ibid.
painting in the Orvieto panel. See: Boskovits, "Intorno." A version
of the lyre-back occurs in the throne in the Virgin and 45. Liserani,
Child in the Sigilli, 18, n. 9. The image of the Virgin as Sta
Servite church at Bologna. For a recent reproduction, see: K. occurs
Chris-in Northern European seals in a form reminiscent o
painting. A seal from Strassburg before 1201 includes th
tiansen, "Fourteenth-century Italian Altarpieces," The Metropolitan
Museum of Art Bulletin, XL (1982), fig. 18. It seems likely and Child
that on a chair throne with the child held to the side. See:
72
Stuttgart, Die Zeit der Staufer (Stuttgart, 1977), II, fig. 64. The absolutely identical in size and form, suggesting that they were
same catalogue illustrates a similar image for Hamburg's Cathedral printed or stamped in a reverse process, and this diminishes the
chapter seal, dated around 1212 (fig. 48). The connection between importance of the direction in which they face even further.
city seals and cathedral sculpture, especially where the Virgin sits 53. Gronwoldt, "Miszellen," 394.
under an architectural canopy merits further study, as does the
connection between such images and paintings like Coppo's. The 54. E. Carli, Pittura medievale pisana (Milan, 1958), figs. 77, 78. A
legend of the Virgin's cloak was used in Renaissance images. See: second image of St. Catherine in an eagle robe is also illustrated,
Douglas, A History of Siena, 214 and Christensen, Painting in fig. 58.
Renaissance Siena, fig. 1. 55. Ibid., figs. 52, 53.
46. Schramm, Kaiser Friederichs II Herrschaftzeichnen, figs. 24-26, 83, 56. Stubblebine, Guido da Siena, figs. 7, 8, 14, 31, 32.
84. His volume also includes an essay with examples by Josef Deer,
57. Boskovits, "Intorno."
"Adler aus der Zeit Friedrichs II: victrix aquila," figs. 40-77.
47. Ibid., figs. 24, 26, 83, 84. 58. D. P. Waley, The Papal State in the Thirteenth Century (London,
1961), 157-70. Waley notes negotiations between the Hohenstaufens
48. Die Zeit der Staufer, II, figs. 13, 16, 18-20, 31, 77, 78, 109. and Orvieto in the 1250s, which included the naming of Manfred
D. Herlihy, Pisa nel duecento (Pisa, 1973), pl. I, III, XIV. Lancia as a citizen of Orvieto. Waley also notes that the Pope left
49. Care must be taken to avoid the assumption that all bird or eagle Orvieto in 1264, after living there for two years, following a political
emblems are Hohenstaufen or imperial. See the problem of the dispute with the city.
eagle cameos, for example: R. Kahsnitz, "Staufische Kameen," Die59. In 1967 dal Pino dated the Orvieto panel to 1268, identifying it as a
Zeit der Staufer, V, 484-88. Aside from the imperial eagle, bird commission from the period of the Florentine prior general, S. Fi-
types can be difficult to place. We have, for example, a fresco at lippo Benizzi, who took over the order in 1267, on the grounds that
Subiaco depicting Innocent III wearing a mantle with birds in full a new church was begun at that time. Nevertheless he pointed out
profile. The meaning if any is not clear although it could be a that the Servites in Orvieto had received an old building around
reference to the imperial eagle as a demonstration of victory over 1259, and then in 1265 moved to a new location. See: dal Pino,
the empire. See: G. Matthiae, Pittura romana del medievo (Roma, "Madonna Santa Maria," p. 24, and R. M. Faggioli, "La chiesa e il
s.d.), II, fig. 106. convento S. Maria dei Servi di Orvieto," Studi storici dell'ordine dei
50. A. C. Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles. The Figured Servi di Maria, VII (1955-1956), 31-64. He notes that a document
Textiles of Europe and the Near East (New York, 1952), figs. 163- of 27 September 1260 gives the order the church of San Pietro in
65, 167. The history of earlier eagle textiles is also illustrated. Vetera. Subsequently, between 1264 and 1265, they acquired land
Weibel demonstrates that in the East and West eagle textiles had and houses within the city, 33-35. Thus a new church might have
imperial associations, and that once again care is required in been begun as early as 1265, although indulgences were still offered
identifying the Hohenstaufen types. to those helping in the construction of the church in 1268. Yet the
painting might have been intended for the building that the order
51. Die Zeit der Staufer, III, fig. 19. R. GrtSnwoldt, "Miszellen zur
had by 1260. This last scenario would parallel the situation in Siena,
Testilkunst der Stauferzeit," in Die Zeit der Staufer, V, 394. Frede-
where a large painting preceded a new building, and would fit
rick's practice of wearing eagle textiles adds an additional element
van Os's observation that it was the Servites of Siena who sent
to our interpretation of the use of eagle cloths on the Virgin in
Coppo to work at Orvieto. See: van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 23.
paintings made for the Ghibelline centers. Irene Bierman has recently
Documents placing Coppo at work in Pistoia beginning in July
argued that the imperial practice of wearing or using textiles with
1265 discourage dating the Orvieto painting immediately after that
Islamic inscriptions led to the parallel decoration of the Virgin's
date. See: Coor-Achenbach, "A Visual Basis," 236. Gertrude Coor-
costumes and thrones in Tuscan paintings. She observed that what
Achenbach considered 1265 to be the earliest date possible for the
was appropriate for the imperial family on earth was also the
Orvieto Madonna, for she assumed that the painting was intended
"proper royal garment. . . of the Christian royal family." See: I. A.
for the new building. She also found the style of Coppo's Orvieto
Bierman, "Writing in Arabic: A Shared Mediterranean Message,"
painting too different from that of the Siena panel to allow a date
delivered at the College Art Association, Los Angeles, February
before the late 1260s or early 1270s. See: Coor-Achenbach, "A
1985. The difference between these two examples is that our eagle
Visual Basis," 236, n. 28. However, recent information on the
textile had a heraldic association with a European royal house in
repainting of the Orvieto panel make it difficult to date on formal
power in the region in which it was used.
grounds. See: Boskovits, "Intorno."
52. H. Fillitz, Die Schatzkammer in Wien (Vienna, Munich, 1964), 139,
60. For our discussion of the role of Fra Jacopo da Siena, see below,
pl. V, fig. 56. Evidence suggests that the roundels were added to an
especially n. 71.
Italian robe nearly a century after it was made. Fillitz identifies the
cloth of the dalmatica as Chinese silk and dates its manufacture to 61. Villani's Chronicle: Being Selections from the First Nine books of
the thirteenth century. He calls the eagle roundels early fourteenth- the Croniche fiorentini of Giovanni Villani, trans. by R. E. Selfe
century, South German work. The eagles on the Vienna dalmatica and ed. by P. H. Wecksteed (London, 1906), 159, 215.
face to the left. For the most part, Coppo uses eagles facing to the 62. C. Brandi, Palazzo Pubblico di Siena. Vicende Costruttive e Decora-
right on the scarf in Siena, although the eagles on the lower right
zione (Milan, 1983), figs. 277, 282, 284, 288, 289, pl. 244. These are
face left. Similarly, the cloth on the throne back of the Orvieto
the frescoes of the Sala di Balia by Spinello Arentini depicting the
panel's throne depicts eagles facing to the right on the left side of career of Pope Alexander III.
the Virgin and to the left on her right. An important textile
associated with the Hohenstaufen house, the so-called Mantle of 63. For the chronicle of Giovanni Sercambi (1347-1424), see: G. C.
Charlemagne from the cathedral at Metz, attributed to Sicily at the Bascape, M. del Piazzo, and L. Borgia, Insegne e simboli, araldica
close of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century, also pubblica e privata medievole e moderna (Rome, 1983), 447-53.
has heraldic eagles which face both left and right. See: Gronwoldt, 64. Branchesi, "Libri corali," 138. "Aquila grandis-diceris puella baiu-
"Miszellen," figs. 247, 254, 256. As a result, there is no evidence that lans rostro-ramulum virentem, nostrorum dira-qui devicit bella."
the direction in which the eagles face should affect our interpreta- The entire poem requires a much more extensive analysis. Some of
tion of the motif. Indeed, the eagles on Coppo's head scarf are the imagery in it is consistent with other hymns to the Virgin; but
73
many passages have a distinctly political tenor, for example: "Tu alla caduta dei nove (1260-1355) (Siena, 1961), reprinted from
ferens verum imperium, restaurans captum spolium nostre pravita- Bulletino Senese di Storia Patria, LXVIII (1961), 9-29, and Lang-
tis." ("You bearing the true sovereignty, restoring plunder taken ton Douglas, A History of Siena, 133-37. Interest in the Servite
through our depravity.") Branchesi, 139. While these passages are order on the part of both the Papacy and the city of Siena may have
open to interpretations focused on the problem of salvation, their been fanned by the fact that it had been founded only a few decades
consistently political tone seems tied to the events of the 1260s. earlier in Florence by members of the Florentine aristocracy. That
65. Herlihy, Pisa nel duecento, 233, pl. IX. Frederick himself was the prior general of the order was in a house supported by the
referred to as the "eagle from the East," after his death, by the government of Siena and that the house had become a symbol of
Hohenstaufen chronicler, Petrus von Prece, see: Die Zeit der Stau- the Virgin's relationship to Siena would have been especially offen-
sive in the years immediately after Montaperti. Return of the order
fer, III, 250.
to Florentine control began with Fra Manetto, and was complete
66. Judith Hook explains the relationship in the following manner: when S. Filippo Benizi became prior general in 1267. See: dal Pino,
"The sense of the familiarity in Siena's relationship with the Virgin Un gruppo evangelico del duecento, 50. Odir J. Dias in a list of the
in no way diminished its passionate intensity. One reason for its early priors general of the order, notes that of the first six, between
emotional depth was that since the city was seen as the child of the 1249 and 1300, only Fra Jacopo was not from Florence. He calls
Virgin it became, in the imagination, conflated with the Christ- the prior general "Giacomo da Siena o da Poggibonsi," dating his
child, for the Madonna's maternal care was, in both cases, identi-
tenure between 1257 and 1265. See O. J. Dias, I registri dei priori
cal." J. Hook, Siena, a City and Its History (London, 1979), 129. generali O.S.M. dal 1285-1625 (Rome, 1970), 21.
67. dal Pino, Un gruppo evangelico, 100-103. Siena lay under excom- 71. Ibid., 21, lists Fra Manetto as Florentine. Dal Pino, Un gruppo
munication after November 18, 1260. Nevertheless this is a period in evangelico, 102-3, offers some documentation on these years and on
which funding went to the Servites for building from the commune the role of Lucca. Lucca as a Guelph haven is discussed in all
and it is the period of Coppo's painting. Papal support came only in histories of the period. In English, see Langton Douglas, A History
a vague permission to receive funds. of Siena, 132 and Schevill, Siena, 186.
68. dal Pino, I Frati Servi di S. Maria, 964. In this same period the72. Nevertheless, Judith Hook was particularly eloquent on the subject
commune provided some building materials for other orders. For of the Ghibelline nature of Siena and its art, describing Siena as
example, in 1259 and again in 1262 they voted to support work at "obstinately Ghibelline in all her cultural assumptions," and her
San Agostino. See: P. A. Riedl and M. Seidel, eds., Die Kirchen characterization of Duccio and Simone Martini as Byzantine and
von Siena (Munich, 1985), I, 1, 3. Of even more significance here Ghibelline in their aristocratic aspirations is convincing and moving
are documents dated 1261 and 1262 which show that the commune if not altogether proven. It allows us some insight into the position
supported the construction of the church of San Giorgio in celebra- of Fra Jacopo. See: Hook, Siena, 117-18.
tion of the victory at Montaperti. See: G. Bellissima, Dopo la
73. Two of Bowsky's books are particularly relevant to this study, but
battaglia di Montaperti: undici documenti latini inediti desunti dal
they lack the specific information that allows us real insight into
R. Archivi di Stato in Siena (Siena, 1922), 8-9. The latter example
patronage. See: W. M. Bowsky, The Finance of the Commune of
indicates the same pattern of communal celebration for the victory
Siena 1287-1355 (Oxford, 1970), and A Medieval Italian Commune:
at Montaperti through religious patronage suggested here for the
Siena Under the Nine, 1287-1355 (Berkeley, 1981). Marvin Becker
Servite panel. A church dedicated to the soldier-saint, St. George,
has some comments on religious life in thirteenth-century Florence,
seems particularly appropriate following a military victory. More-
but they are vague in comparison with our knowledge of the
over, Sienese chronicles report that knights leaving Siena for the
fifteenth century. See: M. Becker, "Aspects of Lay Piety in Early
field at Montaperti dedicated themselves not only to the Virgin, but
Renaissance Florence," in C. Trinkaus and H. O. Oberman, The
also to St. George. See: Porri, "Due narrazioni," in Ilprimo libro, Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval Religion, Papers from the
18-19. It may be significant that the Servite establishment at San
University of Michigan Conference (Leiden, 1974), 178-99. See
Clemente and in particular the church of San Giorgio founded in
also: R. C. Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence (New York,
1261 are close to the Porta Santo Viene, now the Porta Pispini,
1980), 48-73. This problem may soon be remedied. See: S. Cohn,
from which the Sienese marched to battle in September 1260. Ibid.,
Death and Property in Siena: 1205-1800: Strategies for the Afterhlife
10-11, and Touring Club Italiano, Toscana (Milan, 1959), 576. In
(Baltimore, 1988).
general, the role of the commune as a patron of religious establish-
ments needs far more research, not only in regard to political 74. According to tradition, the seven founders of the order belonged to
motivations, but for an understanding of the symbolic structure of the ranks of the Florentine nobility and included members of such
the city itself. illustrious families as the Falconieri. See: E. Casalini, L'ordine dei
Servi di Maria e la sua nascita in Firenze (1233) (Florence, 1983), 9.
69. van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 17. There is some indication that members of leading local families
70. In this interpretation I differ somewhat from Servite historians such joined the Servites of Siena. See: V. Lusini, Storia del Palazzo
as dal Pino (I Frati Servi di S. Maria, 964), who sees the order as Chigi-Saraceni (gid Marescotti) (Siena, 1927), I, 1, 47, n. 1.
caught between church and state. Some members of the order may 75. For surveys of the politics of the period, again, see: Martini, Siena
have been caught between conflicting loyalties, but the removal of da Montaperti, and Langton Douglas, A History of Siena, 132-39.
Fra Jacopo suggests that his intentions were more partisan. In
76. We must also consider the possibility that Fra Jacopo was not
addition, it is likely that papal offers were made not to rescue a
politically Ghibelline, but was either politically or personally too
politically marooned order, but to persuade the order and the
weak to resist the pressure of the government of Siena, and was
general population to come over to the Guelph side, for payment of
eventually removed from office by the Pope for this reason. There
papal aid was not to be made until the Ghibelline defeat. The
may also have been some perceived difference between loyalty to the
attempt to put financial pressure on the Servite order and the
city and loyalty to the imperial cause. This interpretation would be
replacement of Fra Jacopo with a Guelph adherent resemble other
closer to dal Pino's I Frati Servi di S. Maria, 964.
political and economic efforts by the papacy following Montaperti,
77. Nilgen, "Maria Regina." Frederich Heer's general comments on
including the largely successful pressure on the major banking
families beginning in 1263. See: G. Martini, Siena da Montaperti Frederick II's views imply that an imperial image, one made under
74
Ghibelline control, would have pointed to the Hohenstaufen house. between the two cities even further. See: Belting-Ihm, Sub Matris
He comments that in the emperor's view, "Ecclesia, 'church,' is a Tutela, 68-69.
single Christendom, in which the emperor bears the secular and the
80. I. Hueck, "Das Programm der Kuppelmosaiken im Florentiner
pope the spiritual sword," and that "as emperor Frederich II had
Baptisterium" (Dissertation, Munich, 1962).
chosen Justinian for his sacral prototype. Frederich meant men to
revere his state as an 'imperial church' (imperiale eccleseo)." See: 81. Ragghianti, Pittura del dugento, fig. 112.
F. Heer, The Holy Roman Empire, trans. J. Sondheimer (New 82. Oakeshotte, Mosaics of Rome, pl. 265.
York, 1968), 76, 84. According to William Tronzo, Duccio's Maesta,
painted for the cathedral in Siena between 1308 and 1311, also 83. Our discussion of Coppo's painting raises as many problems as it
made a reference to Rome in its allusions to Roman mosaic solves. First is the meaning of terms such as "community," "order,"
and even "commune." Who saw the image at the time that it was
programs. He comments, "that Siena was here proclaimed con-
made? Who determined its content and meaning? In the case of
tinuator of the Roman tradition and true heir to Rome, or perhaps
Coppo's
more accurately, continuator and reviver. . ." See: Tronzo, "Be-panel, what were the allegiances of the podesta, Francesco
tween Icon and the Monumental Decoration of a Church," 42.Troghesio, appointed with the intervention of Manfred, according
to Schevill (Siena, 178), and who was on the city council when
78. The question of the political motivation behind the adoption
money wasof set aside for the Servite order? What were the social,
Byzantine style in Europe and the Mediterranean needs much more and political goals of the people who provided the money
religious,
study. It has been raised before. For example, see: O. Demus,
and of the members of the order who received the panel? Here we
Byzantine Art and the West (New York, 1970), 121. We must also a glimpse of the manner in which the image was used
have gotten
ask whether the Byzantine style had any association in the minds
and of of
the conscious and unconscious assumptions of the viewers
thirteenth-century Tuscans with the Hohenstaufen imperialand house,
the patrons. But how did an image of this sort work? Did the
especially through the Sicilian mosaics. image assure or increase the Virgin's support, or was it an assertion
79. The thirteenth century was a time of increasing artistic, of fact, the fact of their devotion to the Virgin and hers to them.
political,
and economic contact between Siena and the East. Important Must the image have been seen by Florentine or Roman rulers or
comments on this subject were made by A. Derbes in an ambassadors
unpub- to demonstrate Sienese success or was its mere exis-
tence
lished paper, "Siena, Acre and Cilicia in the 1270's," delivered sufficient? In this sense, while the message may have been
at the
College Art Association meeting in Los Angeles in February intended
1985. for the outside world, were the Sienese really talking to
Sienese citizens may have been aware of the long association themselves? Furthermore, Coppo's painting has some elements that
between the city of Constantinople and the Virgin who came seem
to to
thefocus on the political life of the city, and others, such as the
aid of the Byzantine capital in time of distress. See: N. H. child, that emphasize the religious life of the Servites and the
Baynes,
"The Supernatural Defenders of Constantinople," Analectacommunity.
Bollan- Did these aspects reach different groups, social classes
or professions to different degrees, and if so was this understood or
diana, LXVII (1949), 165-77. See also Cameron, "The Theotokos."
intended? And what was the life span of an image like Coppo's?
At this juncture Cameron's study of late sixth-century Constan-
tinopolitan Marian devotion is particularly relevant despite Certainly
the we know the fate of paintings such as Duccio's Maestiz,
torn apart in the eighteenth century, but what was the role of
centuries that separate duecento Siena and sixth-century Byzantium.
She points out that while a full cult of the Virgin as Queenimages such
of as Coppo's in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
Coppo's as
Heaven had not emerged in that period, the concept of the Virgin painting was modernized by a Ducciesque master in the
Queen and as "Regina Polis" had. She connects the Virgin fourteenth
as century, as was Guido's Palazzo Pubblico Madonna,
then in the church of San Domenico. Was this a sign that the panels
intercessor with the protection of the city and with the increasing
weregiven
references to the Virgin as a celestial ruler. It seems logical, revered or was it an indication that the orders did not have
enough
the imperial and royal association of the lyre-back throne, that themoney to replace them? See: Stubblebine, Guido da Siena,
30-31, and
Virgin on the lyre-back throne in the East emphasized that aspect of van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 22.
the Virgin, Queen of Heaven and protector of the city, and Finally,
that Coppo's painting raises another issue. In his studies of
what we see in Rome, Monreale, and Siena reflected an EasternSienese art, van Os has established an important principle. Histo-
concept, if not specific Eastern prototype. The use of some rians of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian art still tend to
Byzan-
tine elements in their image of the Virgin and Child might study the paintings as part of a group of works executed by a single
have
master, and they dwell on problems of dating and attribution. But
been a means of associating Siena with Constantinople directly.
van Os demonstrated that new insights can be gained by considering
This would not have been the first attempt at such a comparison.
Bowsky and others have argued that the Biccherna, the "leadingworks according to their intended location and patronage. See:
van Os,
Sienese financial magistracy," as he terms it, took its name from Sienese Altarpieces, 77-89. Yet despite its Sienese commis-
the
sion,
Blacherne, an important official district in Constantinople. van Os and others have been reluctant to group Coppo's
A re-
painting with other Sienese works, viewing it instead as outside that
cently published document from 1193 mentions the "Blacherna
senesium consulum." The modification of the name to Biccherna tradition, playing down its significance, and at the very least group-
did not occur until a few decades later. See: W. M. Bowsky, The ing artists by regional style, disregarding the way in which Coppo's
Finance of the Commune of Siena 1287-1355 (Oxford, 1970), 2, painting may have been shaped by its Sienese origin. It might be
and Le biccherne, tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli more useful to fling our nets wider and attempt to group duecento
XIII-X VIII) (Rome, 1984), 3. This connection may resolve the paintings in the Sienese region, tracing common factors such as
discussion of the origin of the Schutzmantel madonna. Christa patrons, original locations (for example, in buildings, and, in place-
Belting-Ihm has pointed out that the type appears in the East ment within the city, their access to streets and city gates), and
(Armenia and Cyprus), as well as Siena, at about the same time. relationships to historical and religious events, both within Siena
Her contention is that the motif had its origin in the East and was and without, thus building on the groundwork already laid of
connected with the Constantinopolitan church of the Blachernitissa. attributions and dates. In a sense, then, the preceding study of
This suggests that the Sienese adopted the motif of the Virgin who Coppo di Marcovaldo's Siena panel should be viewed as only an
protects with her mantle, in an attempt to stress the connections introduction to a problem.
75

The Political Meaning of Coppo Di Marcovaldo Madonna and Child in Siena

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The Political Meaning of Coppo Di Marcovaldo Madonna and Child in Siena

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The Political Meaning of Coppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna and Child in Siena

Author(s): Rebecca W. Corrie

Coppo di Marcovaldo's Madonna del bordone in

of the leading monuments of the Tuscan duecento.

Maria Regina was apparently the first important paint-

Siena over Guelph Florence at Montaperti in Septem- oh.

ber of 1260. This paper argues that Montaperti was

raphy and the meaning of the painting. Communal ...........

battle was motivated in part by their special devotion " 0"'f

to the Virgin, to whom the Sienese had dedicated their

Servite devotion stressed the Virgin as Maria Regina, a so

politically resonant iconographic type in Central Italy. ffiff':

And there is evidence that the prior general of the

been viewed as an affirmation of the Sienese victory.

the links among the political, religious, and aesthetic

The Madonna and Child in the church of the Servi di On

Maria in Siena, known as the Madonna del bordone, was All

signed and dated by the Florentine painter, Coppo di

Marcovaldo, in 1261 (Fig. 1). As a result, in part, of its

century repainting of the faces and hands of the major

GESTA XXIX/ 1 ? The International Center of Medieval Art 1990 61

.1. N. Pi ......... ... A .:. Wi.. . ... ..l. .

-:71.4 ... .. ... ... .. . - .-

.. .... ... .. .. .. . .........

the beliefs of the Servites. Texts used by the order in t

teenth century, and probably based on a thirteenth-century

Oh Madonna, most holy, Queen of Heaven

Lucari reminded his fellow citizens that they had two

We have already commended ourselves to King Man-

The chronicles also offer a second analogy linking

imperial regalia that remain to us, the clothing most like

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