Women, Art, and Spirituality

This title situates in its historical and religious contexts the art made for the Franciscan nuns between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Evaluating its production from sociological and intellectual perspectives, this study also addresses the discourse betwen spirituality, devotional practices, and aesthetic attitudes as formalised in the construction and decoration of the women’s convents and in their didactic literature. Based on a range of sources, it integrates important primary texts, such as Saint Clare’s rule, poetry composed by the nuns, financial records, and family history in analysis of paintings, sculpture and architecture commissioned by the order. Also synthesised in this unique study are recent theoretical developments in anthropology, women’s studies, history and literature with traditional iconographical and social approaches of art history.