Sienese Renaissance Tomb Monuments.

Munman's book, a valuable addition to the burgeoning bibliography on Renaissance Siena, is the first comprehensive survey of Sienese Quattrocento tomb monuments. As explained in his introduction, Munman designated as Sienese, monuments in that city or by Sienese sculptors elsewhere. Two brief chapters follow: the first on tomb slabs, which comprise 75% of Sienese fifteenth-century grave monuments, and a short chapter on a miscellany of wall tomb types and freestanding monuments.

The most important part of the book is the catalogue of thirty-five monuments. Munman provides information about description, condition, transcriptions of inscriptions, and bibliography, along with a discussion of each monument's style. All are illustrated, in many cases for the first time here. The definition of Sienese monuments as those by Sienese sculptors allows the inclusion of Jacopo della Quercia's Ilaria del Carretto Monument in Lucca as well as several other less famous monuments in Rome and in the Sienese territories. The only example by a non-Sienese sculptor is Donatello's tomb slab of Bishop Giovanni Pecci in the Cathedral of Siena, part of Munman's study because of its location and influence on Sienese funerary monuments. Other than that and the tombs by Quercia, most of these monuments are little known.

The overwhelming majority of the floor slabs are by anonymous artists and remain undocumented. Unless dated by inscription, their lack of documentation and generic character mean that they are undatable. Since the small remaining group of monumental tombs is an assortment of various types, the floor slabs comprise the only cohesive category in which a formal development (in terms of response to the perspectival illusionism of Donatello's Pecci Tomb) can be seen. Munman uses this criterion to establish their dating in broad terms.

In his introduction, Munman argues that Sienese sumptuary laws discouraged lavish tomb building. He notes that testamentary bequests reveal that many Sienese donated money to the church and specifically requested a simple marker and burial in the habit of a religious order. He concludes that the preference for floor slabs results from this humble attitude: they are cheaper and, fittingly, wear out over time.

Munman supports these arguments with his observations about the few Sienese monumental tombs. The most famous of them all, Quercia's early masterpiece honoring Ilaria del Carretto (c. 1406-08), did not become a prototype for later Sienese funerary monuments. Munman contends that this was due to its special circumstances. It was commissioned by Lucca's autocratic ruler as a memorial to his wife and hence an inappropriate model in republican Siena. Munman argues that only when Petrucci seized power from the republic in the late Quattrocento could a Sienese commission such a tomb. He finds Petrucci's choice, a terracotta Lamentation with a brief inscription below marking his and his family's burial in the Osservanza, telling. In Munman's view, the small number of humanists and statesmen in fifteenth-century Siena further contributed to the little demand for monumental tombs.

Because this is a pioneering study, some of Munman's premises and conclusions are debatable. He focuses on the tombs as monuments related in terms of stylistic development traced directly to Donatello or indirectly through his follower Urbano da Cortona. He includes no information about the tombs' commissioners, thereby limiting understanding of how their historical circumstances and social connections may have influenced patronage. For example, many Sienese tombs were commissioned by members of the Piccolomini family and their circle, a group which spent more time in Rome than in Siena. Munman does not explore non-Tuscan influences on their commissions. That most Sienese tombs were floor slabs may parallel production in other Italian regions, not indicate Sienese humility. Only limited comparable censuses for other regions of Italy exist. Floor slabs were cheaper and involved less complicated negotiations with church authorities. Despite my questions about certain aspects of Munman's methodology and conclusions, his catalogue of Sienese Renaissance tombs is an important contribution to the field.

Sarah Blake McHam RUTGERS UNIVERSITY