Margherita of Cortona and the Lorenzetti

Margherita of Cortona and the Lorenzetti is a detailed interdisciplinary study that explores the role of art within the growth of the cult of civic saints in fourteenth-century Italy. It focuses on three versions of the story of Margherita of Cortona (d. 1297) narrated on a panel painting (c. 1300), in her tomb reliefs (c. 1318), and in the extensive fresco cycle that once decorated her burial church and whose design is here attributed to Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (c. 1335). These images present an intriguing contrast with the text of Margherita's Legenda, compiled by her Franciscan confessor, which primarily portrays the intensity of her spiritual life, her asceticism, and her visions.