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Professor Diana Norman

Profile summary

Professional biography

Diana Norman joined the art history department at the Open University as a lecturer in 1977; she was appointed senior lecturer in 1995 and professor of art history in 2007.

Research interests

She has published three monographs on Sienese art: the first focussing on late medieval art in Siena and its role in propagating a particular image of the city within its subject territories; the second dealing more broadly with the production and reception of Sienese painting in the late medieval and renaissance periods; the third investigating the history of diplomatic relations between the city state of Siena and the Angevin kingdom of Naples and its impact upon fourteenth-century Sienese art. She is also the editor of two volumes of collected essays on fourteenth-century art in Siena, Florence and Padua, to which she contributed a wide range of essays. She has written numerous articles on late medieval and renaissance Italian art, focusing in particular on the patronage of such art and the role of religion in determining its form and meaning.

Selected Publications

Single authored books

Siena and the Angevins (1300-1350): Art, Diplomacy and Dynastic Ambition (Brepols, 2018). Find out more about this book

Painting in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena (1260-1555) (Yale University Press, 2003) Find out more about this book

Siena and the Virgin: Art and Politics in a Late-Medieval City State (Yale University Press, 1999) Find out more about this book

Books edited and co-authored

Editor and author of several essays in Siena, Florence and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, Volume 1, Interpretative Essays, Volume 2, Case Studies, (Yale University Press in association with The Open University, 1995)

Culture and Belief in Europe 1450-1600: An Anthology of Sources, co-edited with D. Englander, R. O’Day and W. Owens, (Basil Blackwell in association with The Open University, 1990)

Essays in books

‘Icona, Immaginis . . . cum Variis Miraculis: Preserving the Memory of the Blessed Andrea Gallerani in Siena’, in Saints, Miracles and the Image: Healing Saints and Miraculous Images in the Renaissance, S. Cardarelli and L. Fenelli eds (Brepols, 2018), 53-73. Find out more about this book

'Santi cittadini: Vecchietta and the Civic Pantheon in Mid-Fifteenth-Century Siena', in Art as Politics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena, T.B. Smith and J. B. Steinhoff eds (Ashgate, 2012), 115-40. Find out more about this book

‘Sacred in Secular, Secular in Sacred: The Art of Simone Martini’, in Art and Visual Culture 1100-1600: Medieval to Renaissance, K. Wood ed (Tate Publishing in association with the Open University, 2012), 92-127.

‘Cardinal of Naples and Cardinal in Rome: The Patronage of Oliviero Carafa’, in The Possessions of a Cardinal: Politics, Piety, and Art, 1450-1700, M. Hollingsworth and C. M. Richardson, eds (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009), 77-91.

‘The Chapel of Saint Catherine in San Domenico: A Study of Cultural Relations between Renaissance Siena and Rome’ in L’ultimo secolo della Repubblica di Siena. Arti, cultura e società (Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Siena 28-30 Settembre 2003 e 16-18 Settembre 2004), M. Ascheri, G. Mazzoni and F. Nevola eds (Siena, Accademia Senese degli Intronati, 2008), 405-19.

‘Making Renaissance Altarpieces’, in Making Renaissance Art, K. Woods ed (Yale University Press in association with The Open University, 2007),175-208, 286-8.

‘Siena and its Renaissance’, in Locating Renaissance Art, C. Richardson ed (Yale University Press in association with The Open University, 2007), 134-172.

‘St Anthony Abbot in Sant’Agostino, Montalcino: An Augustinian Image in the Sienese contado’, in Art and the Augustinian Order in Early Renaissance Italy, L. Bourdua and A. Dunlop eds (Ashgate, 2007), 143-161.
Find out more about this book

‘When Charity Fails: Andrea Gallerani and Memory of the Misericordia in Siena’, in The Kindness of Strangers: Charity in the Pre-Modern Mediterranean, D. Stathakopoulos ed (Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College, London, 2007), 91-118.

‘“Sotto uno baldachino trionfale”: the ritual significance of the painted canopy in Simone Martini’s Maestà’, in Beyond the Palio: Urbanism and Ritual in Renaissance Siena, P. Jackson and F. Nevola eds (Blackwell, 2006), 11-24.

Selected articles

'The Sicilian Connection: Imperial Themes in Simone Martini's St. Louis of Toulouse Altarpiece', Gesta, 53, No.1, 2014, 25-45.

'Politics and Piety: Locating Simone Martini's Saint Louis of Toulouse Altarpiece', Art History, 33, 2010, 596-619.

‘Sanctity, Kingship and Succession: Art and Dynastic Politics in the Lower Church at Assisi, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 73, 2010, 297-334.

‘The Prince and the Bishop: A New Hypothesis for Tabernacle 35 in Siena’s Pinacoteca Nazionale’, Studies in Iconography, 30, 2009, 96-125.

‘A Case of Mistaken Identity: Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s “Saint Dorothy” Panel from the Church of Santa Petronilla, Siena’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 70, 2007, 297-324

‘Sotto uno baldachino trionfale’: the ritual significance of the painted canopy in Simone Martini’s Maestà’, Renaissance Studies (special edition, Beyond the Palio: Urbanism and Ritual in Renaissance Siena, eds P. Jackson and F. Nevola), 20, 2006, 145-160

‘Sano di Pietro’s Assunta Polyptych for the Convent of Santa Petronilla’, Renaissance Studies, 19, 2005, 433-457

‘A Place of Pilgrimage: A Proposal for the Original Location of the Arca of Saint Cerbone’, Papers of the British School at Rome, 69, 2001, 191-221

‘An Abbess and a Painter: Emilia Pannocchieschi d’Elci and a Fresco from the Circle of Simone Martini’, Renaissance Studies, 14, 2000, 273-300

‘Pisa, Siena and the Maremma: A Neglected Aspect of Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Paintings in the Sala dei Nove’, Renaissance Studies, 11, 1997, 310-42

‘The Case of the Beata Simona: Iconography, Hagiography and Misogyny in Three Paintings by Taddeo di Bartolo’, Art History, 18, 1995, 154-84

‘In the Beginning was the Word: An Altarpiece by Ambrogio Lorenzetti for the Augustinian Hermits of Massa Marittima’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 58, 1995, 478-503

 

Teaching interests

She has chaired and written for A353 Art in Fifteenth-Century Italy, A354 Art, Society and Religion in Siena, Florence and Padua 1280-1400 and A424 Display and Devotion: Religious Painting in Italy 1300-1500 and has contributed essays to AA315 Renaissance Art Reconsidered and A226 Exploring Art and Visual Culture.

Publications

The Sicilian Connection: Imperial Themes in Simone Martini’s St. Louis of Toulouse Altarpiece (2014-03)
Norman, Diana
Gesta, 53(1) (pp. 25-45)


Politics and piety: locating Simone Martini's Saint Louis of Toulouse altarpiece (2010-06-14)
Norman, Diana
Art History, 33(4) (pp. 597-619)


Sanctity, kingship and succession: art and dynastic politics in the lower church at Assisi (2010)
Norman, Diana
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 73 (pp. 297-334)


The prince and the bishop: A new hypothesis for Tabernacle 35 in Siena’s Pinacoteca Nazionale (2009)
Norman, Diana
Studies in Iconography, 30 (pp. 96-125)


A case of mistaken identity: Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Saint Dorothy from the Church of Santa Petronilla, Siena (2007-07)
Norman, Diana
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 70(3) (pp. 297-324)


'Sotto uno baldachino trionfale': the ritual significance of the painted canopy in Simone Martini's Maestà (2006-04)
Norman, Diana
Renaissance Studies, 20(2) (pp. 147-160)


Sano di Pietro's Assunta polyptych for the Convent of Santa Petronilla in Siena (2005-09)
Norman, Diana
Renaissance Studies, 19(4) (pp. 433-457)


A place of pilgrimage: A proposal for the original location of the Arca of Saint Cerbone (2001)
Norman, Diana
Papers of the British School at Rome, 69 (pp. 191-221)


Siena and the Angevins (1300-1350): Art, Diplomacy and Dynastic Ambition (2018)
Norman, Diana
ISBN : 978-2-503-57436-3 | Publisher : Brepols Publishers | Published : Beguinage of Turnhout, Belgium


Painting in late medieval and Renaissance Siena (1260-1555) (2003-12)
Norman, Diana
ISBN : 300099339 | Publisher : Yale University Press | Published : New Haven, USA


Siena and the Virgin: Art and Politics in a Late-Medieval City State (1999-09-10)
Norman, Diana
ISBN : 9780300080063 | Publisher : Yale University Press | Published : London and New Haven, USA


Icona, Immaginis . . . cum Variis Miraculis: Preserving the Memory of the Blessed Andrea Gallerani in Siena (2017)
Norman, Diana
In: Cardarelli, Sandra and Fenelli, Laura eds. Saints, Miracles and the Image: Healing Saints and Miraculous Images in the Renaissance (pp. 53-73)
ISBN : 978-2-503-56818-8 | Publisher : Brepols Publishers | Published : Beguinage of Turnhout, Belgium


Cardinal of Naples and Cardinal in Rome: The Patronage of Oliviero Carafa (2009)
Norman, Diana
In: Hollingsworth, Mary and Richardson, Carol M. eds. The Possessions of a Cardinal: Politics, Piety, and Art, 1450-1700 (pp. 77-91)
ISBN : 9780271034683 | Publisher : The Pennsylvania State University Press | Published : University Park, Pennsylvania


The chapel of Saint Catherine in San Domenico: A studyof cultural relations between Renaissance Siena and Rome (2008)
Norman, Diana
In: Ascheri, Mario; Mazzoni, Gianni and Nevola, Fabrizio eds. L'ultimo secolo della Repubblica di Siena. Arti, cultura e societàe. Atti del Convegno Internazionale (pp. 405-419)
ISBN : 8889073100 | Publisher : Accademia Senese degli Intronati | Published : Siena, Italy


When Charity fails: Andrea Gallerani and memory of the Misericordia in Siena (2007-12)
Norman, Diana
In: Stathakopoulos, Dionysios ed. The Kindness of Strangers: Charity in the Pre-Modern Mediterranean. Occasional Publications from the Centre for Hellenic Studies (pp. 91-118)
ISBN : 9781897747209 | Publisher : Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College | Published : London


St Anthony Abbot in Sant'Agostino, Montalcino: an Augustinian Image in the Sienese contado (2007)
Norman, Diana
In: Bourdua, Louise and Dunlop, Anne eds. Art and the Augustinian Order in Early Renaissance Italy. Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West (pp. 143-161)
ISBN : 978-0-7546-5655-5 | Publisher : Ashgate | Published : Aldershot and Burlington VT


Culture and Belief in Europe 1450-1600: An Anthology of Sources (1990-02-01)
Englander, David; Norman, Diana; O'Day, Rosemary and Owens, William eds.
ISBN : 063116989X | Publisher : John Wiley and Sons Ltd | Published : Oxford, U.K.


The patronage of Cardinal Oliviero Carafa 1430-1511 (1989)
Norman, Diana
PhD thesis The Open University