Pale d’altare composite e culto dei santi: corporazioni, confraternite e ordini mendicanti a Siena tra Quattro e Cinquecento

Résumé En

This paper investigates the diffusion in Siena of a particular composite type of altarpiece, namely painted altarpieces in whose central compartment a sculpture took the place of the panel painting. These works were somewhat at odds with the dominant model of the entirely painted polyptych, of which Siena had been a centre of development and export. The article therefore investigates the reasons why the composite typology spread precisely in Siena. Thanks also to new archival documents, it first shows that more than ten examples were produced in Siena between the beginning of the fifteenth and the second decade of the sixteenth century. The key to understanding the success of the typology lies in the analysis of the patrons and contexts of destination, i.e. the functions of these works. While in an early phase (ca. 1400–1450) the choice of composite altarpieces corresponded above all with the desire for social self-promotion of the guilds and confraternities, later on (ca. 1450–1510) they were exploited especially by the mendicant orders for the promotion of the cult of saints, in particular those recently canonised, such as Bernardino, Catherine of Siena, Nicholas of Tolentino, or Vincent Ferrer. In these cases, the statue of the titular saint to a certain extent also compensated for the absence of his bodily relics.