Experiencing Pilgrimage and Experiencing Art in Central Italy c.1264 - 1456

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The relationship between long-range pilgrimage and art during the medieval period has long been the subject of study and continues to stimulate significant work. Pilgrimage has been predominantly understood in relation to three major destinations: Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela. The route to Rome from Canterbury via France (the via Francigena) has been presented as the definitive experience of Italian pilgrimage. An over-reliance upon the earliest surviving account of the route, by the Archbishop of Canterbury Sigeric in 990 A.D., proves problematic for studies of later centuries. Rather than constituting a fixed itinerary, static through history, the via Francigena is better understood as a nexus of major and lesser-known routes, offering the opportunity for a variety of devotional journeys. The implication of such a redefinition is that the experience of pilgrimage permeated the central-Italian landscape, rather than being confined to Rome.Few studies have focused on sites within Italy beyond Rome. Significant contributions have explored pilgrimage in locations such as Assisi (Cooper and Robson), Bologna (Ousterhout) and Pisa (Cole Ahl). Pilgrimage in late-medieval Italy was more than the journey of devotees towards a religious site. The full spectrum of pilgrimage included local, virtual and imagined journeying. Even fewer studies of Italian material have examined the relationship between art, architecture and the full range of pilgrim experiences. The pilgrim viewer has, however, been explored in relation to the Passion Cycle at Assisi (Robson) and virtual pilgrimage has been related to the narrative panels of Duccio's Maestà in Siena (Seiler, Rosser). Dorothy Glass sought to explore the artistic exchange facilitated by the via Francigena in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. She found that, though rich in material, the results did not yield the pattern she had expected. The via Francigena remains a key construct for the study of pilgrimage in Italy but, taking heed of Glass' observations, my research will take a different approach to the route. The thesis would explore the topic of art and pilgrimage through focused study of three objects located in sites related to the Francigena in different ways: the Maestà in Siena Cathedral (on the main via Francigena); the less-studied Reliquary of the Holy Corporal in the Cathedral of Orvieto (to the side of the main route); and the much-less studied Altar of San Jacopo in the Church of San Zeno in Pistoia (on an alternative route). The combination of Siena, Orvieto and Pistoia provides a wealth of research material to explore two overarching questions: how does the art and architecture of late-medieval Italy reflect the nature of contemporary pilgrimage experience and how did pilgrimage and the demands of a pilgrim viewer contribute to the making of art and architecture in the period? Beginning from the objects themselves, I will explore successive layers of context: setting the works within their chapels, cathedrals, urban contexts, within Central Italy and broader networks of pilgrimage. These works have largely been treated in isolation from pilgrim experience and often only with regard to attribution. With a comparative approach, the thesis will not only draw together these works of conceptual and visual resonance, but also the rich material that surrounds them.