Joanna Cannon's scholarship and teaching have helped shape the
historical study of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian art; this
essay collection by her former students is a tribute to her work.
The essays collected here form a tribute to Joanna Cannon, whose
scholarship and teaching have done so much to shape the historical study
of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian art. Her teaching lies at
the heart of this book, as its chapters are all written by those who
gained their doctorates under her supervision. The reach of her
interests and expertise is also reflected in its range of subjects. The
book is unified by its concentration on Italian art, history, and
material culture, spanning the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries;
but within that scope the individual essays focus on an impressive
variety of subjects, across many media, including panel painting, wall
painting, architecture, sculpture, metalwork, manuscripts, and gilded
glass. Ranging across Italy, from Bologna, to Siena, to Assisi, to
Florence, they address key themes in the field, such as artistic
patronage, sainthood and sanctity, the visual culture of the mendicant
orders, devotional practice, and civic religion. Some essays bring fresh
approaches to familiar material (Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Saint Nicholas
panels, the frescoes in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico, Simone Martini's Holy
Family), while others illuminate objects and images that are less well
known (the central panel of the Santa Chiara triptych in Trieste, and
the statue of Saint Francis in San Francesco in Siena). As a collection
they combine to make an important contribution to the study of Early
Italian art, seeking thereby to echo the extraordinary contribution of
Joanna Cannon's own work to that field.
