The Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina: Art, Iconography and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century Naples

The Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina: Art, Iconography and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century Naples. Janis Elliott and Cordelia Warr, editors. Ashgate. [pounds sterling]55.00. xxi + 234 pages. ISBN 0-7546-3477-9. The church of Santa Maria Donna Regina in Naples, which dates from the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries, is one of the great convent churches built during the Angevin rule (1266-1435).

Its history is an introduction to the role of queen-consorts during this period through the patronage of Queen Maria, consort of Charles II of Anjou. The church is also 'a rare example of aristocratic convent architecture in Italy' and of an endowed female convent built from scratch. These nine essays examine not just the attribution of surviving artwork in the church but 'iconography, patronage and audience' but also look at the church 'within its Angevin and Franciscan context'. The first four chapters look at Neapolitan life during the church's construction and at the 'architectural, religious and patronal influences that were brought to bear'. The final five chapters look closely at the church's decoration and its iconography to see what they tell us of the church's history and of its place in European civilisation. The essays are uniformly well written and researched and are greatly helped by the numerous illustrations. (P.P.F.)

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