The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00352

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23575

The erotic frescoes adorning a chamber in San Gimignano's communal bell tower are among the most fascinating surviving examples of secular art from the late Middle Ages. Despite their fame, neither these frescoes—which include scenes of two lovers in a bathtub and Aristotle ridden by his seductress—nor those of the commune council hall have been well understood as products of the communal culture they represent. Here Jean Campbell explores the sources and significance of the images on these walls by constructing an interdisciplinary microhistory of an early Italian commune. Her investigation addresses notions of nobility, personal display, and public space, describing how the game of courting colored urban life in the age of Dante.

*This eBook is available exclusively on the A&AePortal.*

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Print publication date February 1998 (out of print)

Print ISBN 9780691012100

EISBN 9780300274202

Illustrations 62

Print Status out of print

Publisher (out of print)

WorldCat

Google Books

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

List of illustrations

Tower room decorations, north wall
Bathhouse Romance: The Bath, tower room, east wall, detail
Romance of the Donna del Verzù, bedroom decorations
Council hall decorations, east wall
Maestà, council hall, south wall
Plan of San Gimignano
Communal Palace, San Gimignano
Plan of the second floor, Communal Palace, San Gimignano
Plan of the third floor, Communal Palace, San Gimignano
Festive Cortège: King and Falconers, council hall, east wall, detail
Surrender of a Castle in the Sienese Territory
Prodigal Son: The Departure, tower room, north wall
Diagram of council hall decorations
Jousting and Hunting, council hall, north wall
Jousting and Hunting, council hall, north wall
Jousting and Hunting, council hall, north wall
Centaur Shooting a Dragon and Hunting Scene, council hall, north wall
Sala dei Nove decorations
Jousting and Man with Lion, council hall, south wall
Seal of the Guelph Party of Siena
Offa before King Warmund, drawing from the Lives of the Two Offas
Betrothal of David and Michal, Illumination from an Old Testament Picture Book (the Maciejowski Bible)
Investiture of Charles of Anjou
Courting a Lady
Casket with Scenes of Romances
Effects of Good Government in the Countryside
The City at Peace (or Good Government in the City)
The Composition of Siena's Sovereignty
The Composition of Siena's Sovereignty, detail
Tribute to Charles of Calabria
Maestà
Diagram of tower room decorations
Adenès le Roi before Marie de Brabant
Statutes of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1314
Fictive Drapery, tower room, reveal of the north window
Life of John the Baptist, panels
Seduction of Aristotle: Aristotle Ridden, tower room, north wall
Seduction of Aristotle: The Seduction, tower room, north wall
Casket with Scenes of Romances
Seduction of Aristotle, detail
Prodigal Son: The Seduction, tower room, north wall
Prodigal Son: The Expulsion, tower room, north wall
Box with the Parable Prodigal Son and Scenes of Lovers
Box with the Parable Prodigal Son and Scenes of Lovers
Box with the Parable Prodigal Son and Scenes of Lovers
Prodigal Son Story, fragments of a casket, front and back
Prodigal Son Story, wax tablet cover
Prodigal Son Story, wax tablet cover
Madonna della Misericordia
Bathhouse Romance: The Meeting, tower room, east wall
Bathhouse Romance: The Bath, tower room, east wall
Marital Bed
Bathhouse Romance(?): Military Adventure, tower room, south wall
Romance of Jason and Medea: Meeting at the Banquet
Romance of Jason and Medea: Leaving the Banquet
Romance of Jason and Medea: Medea Staring at the Moon and the Invitation to Jason
Romance of Jason and Medea: Jason in Medea's Bedchamber and Jason's oath
Romance of Jason and Medea: Medea Gives Jason the Magic Charm
Romance of Jason and Medea: Jason's Return from His Adventures and His Departure
Owl and Magpies, tower room, transom over doorway
Solomon's Entertainment and Wheel of Fortune

Free

Contents

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

Contents

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23576

Free

List of Illustrations

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

List of Illustrations

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23577

Free

Preface

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

~IN 1287 THE COMMUNE OF SAN GIMIGNANO publicly banned the “game of courting.” The activity described in the relevant statute was properly associated in communal society with the celebration of May Day. It took the form of spontaneously organized processions through the city streets and involved the donation of “gifts of loving...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23578

Free

Acknowledgments

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

~THIS PROJECT HAD ITS BEGINNINGS as a doctoral dissertation. Many members of the extended community of professors, students, and staff of the Department of the History of Art at the Johns Hopkins University contributed to its conception. Among those I must name is Hans Belting, who first suggested to me my wonderful topic. To Charles Dempsey, who guided my...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23579

Introduction

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

THROUGH THE CENTURIES the Tuscan hilltown of San Gimignano has inspired poetic sentiment from many and varied sources. From pre-Raphaelite poets to...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.3-23

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00352.1

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23580

Chapter subject tags:Mural painting and decoration, Medieval--ItalyPalazzo comunale (San Gimignano, Italy)Erotic art--Italy

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Chapter 1. The Constitution of the Commune

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

~THE COMMUNE OF SAN GIMIGNANO had its origins as a territory of the bishop of Volterra.The name San Gimignano first appears with reference to the territory in a document dated to...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.24-43

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00352.2

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23581

Chapter subject tags:Mural painting and decoration, Medieval--ItalyPalazzo comunale (San Gimignano, Italy)Podestà

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Chapter 2. The Council Hall: Eloquent Heraldry

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

THE COUNCIL HALL of San Gimignano’s Communal Palace is today dominated by two monumental images of rulers holding court. On the south wall is the heavenly court...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.44-106

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00352.3

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23582

Chapter subject tags:Mural painting and decoration, Medieval--ItalyPalazzo comunale (San Gimignano, Italy)Hunting in artLorenzetti, Ambrogio, 1285-approximately 1348

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Chapter 3. The Chamber: Stories to Delight and Nourish the Body

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

CHARLES SINGLETON once described the living form of a work of art as the product of the tension between its private and public meanings: the private meaning being that dimension...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.107-190

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00352.4

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23583

Chapter subject tags:Mural painting and decoration, Medieval--ItalyPalazzo comunale (San Gimignano, Italy)Erotic art--ItalyMemmo di Filippuccio, active 1294-1324

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Conclusion

The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290–1320

THE SURVIVING DECORATIONS of San Gimignano’s Communal Palace offer a rare opportunity to consider the public and private sides of early communal imagery side by side...

Author

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.191-201

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00352.5

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23584

Chapter subject tags:Mural painting and decoration, Medieval--ItalyPalazzo comunale (San Gimignano, Italy)RomancesPodestà

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.