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A Spectacular Celebration of the Assumption in Siena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Andrea Campbell
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Abstract

This essay addresses the significance of the Assumption of the Virgin fresco in the Baptistery of Siena and the existence of an adjacent tunnel that connects the Baptistery to the Cathedral above. The traditional celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin in Siena is described; previously unpublished documents stating that a play of the Assumption was performed add new details to the picture. Other contemporary Sienese religious dramas, some little-known to modern scholars, are discussed to illustrate what the play of the Assumption could have entailed. It is proposed that the tunnel, or trapdoor, was used to conceal ropes that raised an effigy of the Assunta during the feast-day Mass.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , Summer 2005 , pp. 435 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 Renaissance Society of America

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Footnotes

*

I offer my deepest appreciation to Andrew Ladis, who helped me locate and translate some of the records used in this article, and has given me much support. I would like to thank Giovanni Freni for the translations of the Latin sources used here. I also acknowledge with thanks Paolo Brognini for proofreading my transcriptions of primary materials.

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