Book contents
- Wall Painting, Civic Ceremony, and Sacred Space in Early Renaissance Italy
- Wall Painting, Civic Ceremony, and Sacred Space in Early Renaissance Italy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter One “Larger, More Ornate, and More Seemly”
- Chapter Two “A Most Devout Place”
- Chapter Three “Most Holy and Unique in the World”
- Chapter Four Rome in Spoleto
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter Two - “A Most Devout Place”
The Camposanto from Cemetery to Civic Space in Fourteenth Century Pisa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 September 2025
Book contents
- Wall Painting, Civic Ceremony, and Sacred Space in Early Renaissance Italy
- Wall Painting, Civic Ceremony, and Sacred Space in Early Renaissance Italy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter One “Larger, More Ornate, and More Seemly”
- Chapter Two “A Most Devout Place”
- Chapter Three “Most Holy and Unique in the World”
- Chapter Four Rome in Spoleto
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 focuses on the extensive decoration of the Camposanto in Pisa, the monumental cemetery adjacent to the cathedral complex. Here the author describes the ceremonies associated with death, burial and remembrance that animated the vast spaces. Unlike previous assumptions of a single program that from the beginning guided the mural decoration, it is proposed here that the wall paintings, completed during three discrete periods, reflected the changing social and religious significance of the Camposanto as a communal burial space open to all classes of Pisans. The murals of the life of the Pisan patron saint Rainerius were begun by Andrea di Buonaiuti (also called Andrea da Firenze) and completed by Antonio Veneziano in 1386. Commisssioned by Pietro Gambacorta, the signore of Pisa, they celebrated Pisa’s identity as a vibrant polity with a venerable history, against the backdrop of a fast-changing political reality.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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