Susan May | Birmingham City University (original) (raw)

Papers by Susan May

The English Historical Review, May 18, 2017

Royal Studies Journal, 2017

Between 1492 and 1503, Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439-1503) was the first officially appo... more Between 1492 and 1503, Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439-1503) was the first officially appointed Cardinal Protector of England. This paper focuses on a select few of his activities executed in that capacity for Henry Tudor, King Henry VII. Drawing particularly on two unpublished letters, it underscores the importance for King Henry of having his most trusted supporters translated to significant bishoprics throughout the land, particularly in the northern counties, and explores Queen Elizabeth of York's patronage of the hospital and church of St Katharine-by-the-Tower in London. It further considers the mechanisms through which artists and humanists could be introduced to the Tudor court, namely via the communication and diplomatic infrastructure of Italian merchant-bankers. This study speculates whether, by the end of his long incumbency of forty-three years at the Sacred College, uncomfortably mindful of the extent of a cardinal's actual and potential influence in temporal affairs, Piccolomini finally became reluctant to wield the power of the purple.

Opening directly off the massive, romanesque interior of Siena cathedral, the renaissance Piccolo... more Opening directly off the massive, romanesque interior of Siena cathedral, the renaissance Piccolomini Library shimmers like a bejewelled casket. Its vault and walls are enlivened with intricate, colourful frescoes by Bernardino Pinturicchio and his workshop. The main component of the painted scheme is a commemoration of the life of the patron’s uncle, Pope Pius II (1458-64), presented in ten, large narrative murals. In keeping with early-renaissance naturalism, great attention is paid to the careful depiction of contemporary dress. Focusing on a small selection of the murals, the aims of this paper are to examine the various modes of sartorial elegance represented there and to consider the role that dress plays in communicating meaning within the decorative programme. Using visual analysis in combination with studies of the history of dress, local Sienese socio-economic context, papal politics and the dynastic agenda, it is demonstrated that the representation of costume plays an im...

For ‘Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the Transubstantiation of the Senses’, the Call for Pa... more For ‘Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the Transubstantiation of the Senses’, the Call for Papers cast the context for the conference in the following terms: ... Western tradition remains cautious of unreasoned sensorial data, treating it with illusory trepidation. While this paradigm has proven an efficient methodology, it has installed a discriminatory partition between that which can be rationalised or mathematized and that which is ‘only’ sensory. This paper takes a backward glance to a pre-Enlightenment age, when ‘unreasoned sensorial data’ was accepted as part and parcel of everyday life. It touches on the unquestioning belief in the supernatural power of holy relics, exemplified here by a ‘miraculous’ event brought about by a sacred fragment from the head of Saint Andrew the Apostle (first century AD). The occasion was orchestrated by Pope Pius II, the learned humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (b.1405-1464); the setting, the village of his birth, Corsignano, which he re...

The Piccolomini library, entered from the left aisle of Siena cathedral, was the culmination of t... more The Piccolomini library, entered from the left aisle of Siena cathedral, was the culmination of the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1437-1503) (Fig 1). Its frescoed interior (1502-8) was commissioned from Bernardino Pinturicchio and painted in the fashionable all'antica manner. The mural decoration, dominated by ten large, narrative images with inscriptions, commemorates, in colourful and animated detail, the life of the patron's uncle, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, Pope Pius II (1458-64). Intellectually giftedpoet, historian, biographer, educational theorist and topographerhis nephew followed him in the studium humanitatis. The library, with its antique marble group of the Three Graces, a stucco relief of the Expulsion from Paradise, fitted wooden bookcases and impressive manuscript books as well, epitomised the spirit of humanism. Christian Neoplatonism, in particular the theology of Saint Augustine, and Cardinal Francesco's own concern for the reform of the Church are at the heart of the decorative programme. Both are apt to go unnoticed by visitors to the library since the room is now bereft of its original contents. Today the empty cupboards support instead a display of antiphoners brought here in the seventeenth century, when the remaining Piccolomini codices were sold and the library ceded by the family to the Opera del Duomo. 1 In the murals, Pius II is presented as the ideal pontiff who, through his wisdom, humility and eloquence, initiated the return of a golden age of Ecclesia. Steeped in the ecclesiology of Nicholas of Cusa, Bessarion and Pius himself, Cardinal Francesco was acutely aware of the need for urgent reform: this determined his selection of events to be depicted from his uncle's life. Of the ten istorie, the final five narrate his elevation to the Sacred College of Cardinals and the important events of his pontifical career. The most oft-reproduced of the series is the fifth, The Presentation of Leonora of Portugal to Emperor Frederick III, celebrating the meeting of the emperor with his future bride on the prato outside the Porta Camollia at Siena, presided over by Aeneas Piccolomini as Archbishop, with the recognisable landmarks of the city in the brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

The legacies of Vasarian and Burckhardtian historical paradigms have had the effect of leaving Be... more The legacies of Vasarian and Burckhardtian historical paradigms have had the effect of leaving Bernardino Pinturicchio’s Fossi altarpiece (1495-6) in the Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria insufficiently investigated. This study examines the patronage, form, iconography and politics surrounding the polyptych, in the light of contemporary historical and cultural phenomena. Pinturicchio’s reputation in Rome at that moment was unsurpassed, the artist having been named by the incumbent pope ‘pictor palatii apostolici’. The article, presented in two parts, demonstrates that the altarpiece should not be considered a parochial work of art by a second rate painter: it is, rather, a visual manifestation of a complex web of designs - commercial, communal, ecclesiastical and papal - moulded by the most pressing artistic and historical exigencies in the Italian peninsula in the closing years of the fifteenth century. Part 1 begins by seting out the circumstances of the commission, establishing the ...

Foundation, Dedication and Consecration in Early Modern Europe

Renaissance Studies, 2005

The murals of the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral, featuring episodes from the life of Pop... more The murals of the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral, featuring episodes from the life of Pope Pius II, are usually discussed as distinctly separate from the vault imagery, predominantly all'antica and mythological scenes. The latter, combined with the centrally-placed, antique statue of The Three Graces, has led some authors to comment on the library's overtly 'pagan' content as shockingly incongruent with its setting in the sacred precincts of the duomo. Little attention is paid to the significance of the stucco relief above the entrance, The Expulsion from Paradise. The article proposes that such a prestigious project for so powerful and erudite a patron as Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, and painted by the highly acclaimed artist Pinturicchio, is unlikely to have been devised without careful attention to its iconographical programme. Focussing primarily on the two largest compartments of the vault, it is demonstrated that the four principal figures there should be interpreted as representatives of the four temperaments. By defining their relationship as such to the Expulsion from Paradise relief and to the historical narratives on the walls, this article shows that the mythological scenes in the vault play an allegorical role within the broader scheme and that a coherent programme underpins the entire decoration, with the writings of Saint Augustine and of his fifteenth century followers at its core.

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes

The subject of the present study is Cosimo Rosselli's The Adoration of the Child Jesus (c. 1485),... more The subject of the present study is Cosimo Rosselli's The Adoration of the Child Jesus (c. 1485), today in the collection of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. It takes as its starting point two factors noted from the Barber Institute guide-the 'complex subject matter' and the painting's unknown original location. The paper thus falls into two sections. Part 1 consists of a fresh iconographical analysis of the altarpiece grounded in accepted historical and contextual scholarship. This section * This article results from collaborative research with my late husband, Prof. George T. Noszlopy (d. 5 June 2011), Birmingham City University, whose keen observations and expertise set the project in motion. This paper is dedicated to his memory. Sincere thanks go to David Hemsoll,

The English Historical Review, May 18, 2017

Royal Studies Journal, 2017

Between 1492 and 1503, Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439-1503) was the first officially appo... more Between 1492 and 1503, Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439-1503) was the first officially appointed Cardinal Protector of England. This paper focuses on a select few of his activities executed in that capacity for Henry Tudor, King Henry VII. Drawing particularly on two unpublished letters, it underscores the importance for King Henry of having his most trusted supporters translated to significant bishoprics throughout the land, particularly in the northern counties, and explores Queen Elizabeth of York's patronage of the hospital and church of St Katharine-by-the-Tower in London. It further considers the mechanisms through which artists and humanists could be introduced to the Tudor court, namely via the communication and diplomatic infrastructure of Italian merchant-bankers. This study speculates whether, by the end of his long incumbency of forty-three years at the Sacred College, uncomfortably mindful of the extent of a cardinal's actual and potential influence in temporal affairs, Piccolomini finally became reluctant to wield the power of the purple.

Opening directly off the massive, romanesque interior of Siena cathedral, the renaissance Piccolo... more Opening directly off the massive, romanesque interior of Siena cathedral, the renaissance Piccolomini Library shimmers like a bejewelled casket. Its vault and walls are enlivened with intricate, colourful frescoes by Bernardino Pinturicchio and his workshop. The main component of the painted scheme is a commemoration of the life of the patron’s uncle, Pope Pius II (1458-64), presented in ten, large narrative murals. In keeping with early-renaissance naturalism, great attention is paid to the careful depiction of contemporary dress. Focusing on a small selection of the murals, the aims of this paper are to examine the various modes of sartorial elegance represented there and to consider the role that dress plays in communicating meaning within the decorative programme. Using visual analysis in combination with studies of the history of dress, local Sienese socio-economic context, papal politics and the dynastic agenda, it is demonstrated that the representation of costume plays an im...

For ‘Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the Transubstantiation of the Senses’, the Call for Pa... more For ‘Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the Transubstantiation of the Senses’, the Call for Papers cast the context for the conference in the following terms: ... Western tradition remains cautious of unreasoned sensorial data, treating it with illusory trepidation. While this paradigm has proven an efficient methodology, it has installed a discriminatory partition between that which can be rationalised or mathematized and that which is ‘only’ sensory. This paper takes a backward glance to a pre-Enlightenment age, when ‘unreasoned sensorial data’ was accepted as part and parcel of everyday life. It touches on the unquestioning belief in the supernatural power of holy relics, exemplified here by a ‘miraculous’ event brought about by a sacred fragment from the head of Saint Andrew the Apostle (first century AD). The occasion was orchestrated by Pope Pius II, the learned humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (b.1405-1464); the setting, the village of his birth, Corsignano, which he re...

The Piccolomini library, entered from the left aisle of Siena cathedral, was the culmination of t... more The Piccolomini library, entered from the left aisle of Siena cathedral, was the culmination of the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1437-1503) (Fig 1). Its frescoed interior (1502-8) was commissioned from Bernardino Pinturicchio and painted in the fashionable all'antica manner. The mural decoration, dominated by ten large, narrative images with inscriptions, commemorates, in colourful and animated detail, the life of the patron's uncle, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, Pope Pius II (1458-64). Intellectually giftedpoet, historian, biographer, educational theorist and topographerhis nephew followed him in the studium humanitatis. The library, with its antique marble group of the Three Graces, a stucco relief of the Expulsion from Paradise, fitted wooden bookcases and impressive manuscript books as well, epitomised the spirit of humanism. Christian Neoplatonism, in particular the theology of Saint Augustine, and Cardinal Francesco's own concern for the reform of the Church are at the heart of the decorative programme. Both are apt to go unnoticed by visitors to the library since the room is now bereft of its original contents. Today the empty cupboards support instead a display of antiphoners brought here in the seventeenth century, when the remaining Piccolomini codices were sold and the library ceded by the family to the Opera del Duomo. 1 In the murals, Pius II is presented as the ideal pontiff who, through his wisdom, humility and eloquence, initiated the return of a golden age of Ecclesia. Steeped in the ecclesiology of Nicholas of Cusa, Bessarion and Pius himself, Cardinal Francesco was acutely aware of the need for urgent reform: this determined his selection of events to be depicted from his uncle's life. Of the ten istorie, the final five narrate his elevation to the Sacred College of Cardinals and the important events of his pontifical career. The most oft-reproduced of the series is the fifth, The Presentation of Leonora of Portugal to Emperor Frederick III, celebrating the meeting of the emperor with his future bride on the prato outside the Porta Camollia at Siena, presided over by Aeneas Piccolomini as Archbishop, with the recognisable landmarks of the city in the brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

The legacies of Vasarian and Burckhardtian historical paradigms have had the effect of leaving Be... more The legacies of Vasarian and Burckhardtian historical paradigms have had the effect of leaving Bernardino Pinturicchio’s Fossi altarpiece (1495-6) in the Galleria nazionale dell’Umbria insufficiently investigated. This study examines the patronage, form, iconography and politics surrounding the polyptych, in the light of contemporary historical and cultural phenomena. Pinturicchio’s reputation in Rome at that moment was unsurpassed, the artist having been named by the incumbent pope ‘pictor palatii apostolici’. The article, presented in two parts, demonstrates that the altarpiece should not be considered a parochial work of art by a second rate painter: it is, rather, a visual manifestation of a complex web of designs - commercial, communal, ecclesiastical and papal - moulded by the most pressing artistic and historical exigencies in the Italian peninsula in the closing years of the fifteenth century. Part 1 begins by seting out the circumstances of the commission, establishing the ...

Foundation, Dedication and Consecration in Early Modern Europe

Renaissance Studies, 2005

The murals of the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral, featuring episodes from the life of Pop... more The murals of the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral, featuring episodes from the life of Pope Pius II, are usually discussed as distinctly separate from the vault imagery, predominantly all'antica and mythological scenes. The latter, combined with the centrally-placed, antique statue of The Three Graces, has led some authors to comment on the library's overtly 'pagan' content as shockingly incongruent with its setting in the sacred precincts of the duomo. Little attention is paid to the significance of the stucco relief above the entrance, The Expulsion from Paradise. The article proposes that such a prestigious project for so powerful and erudite a patron as Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, and painted by the highly acclaimed artist Pinturicchio, is unlikely to have been devised without careful attention to its iconographical programme. Focussing primarily on the two largest compartments of the vault, it is demonstrated that the four principal figures there should be interpreted as representatives of the four temperaments. By defining their relationship as such to the Expulsion from Paradise relief and to the historical narratives on the walls, this article shows that the mythological scenes in the vault play an allegorical role within the broader scheme and that a coherent programme underpins the entire decoration, with the writings of Saint Augustine and of his fifteenth century followers at its core.

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes

The subject of the present study is Cosimo Rosselli's The Adoration of the Child Jesus (c. 1485),... more The subject of the present study is Cosimo Rosselli's The Adoration of the Child Jesus (c. 1485), today in the collection of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. It takes as its starting point two factors noted from the Barber Institute guide-the 'complex subject matter' and the painting's unknown original location. The paper thus falls into two sections. Part 1 consists of a fresh iconographical analysis of the altarpiece grounded in accepted historical and contextual scholarship. This section * This article results from collaborative research with my late husband, Prof. George T. Noszlopy (d. 5 June 2011), Birmingham City University, whose keen observations and expertise set the project in motion. This paper is dedicated to his memory. Sincere thanks go to David Hemsoll,