ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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The birth of humanism
LOUISE BOURDUA introduces the emotional and narrative religious art of 14th-century Siena that broke with Byzantine formalism and laid the foundations for the Renaissance
(L) Lando di Pietro, Head of Christ (fragment of crucifix), 1338; (R) Ambrogio Lorenzetti Madonna del Latte (Madonna of the Milk), about 1325 / Pics: © Foto Studio Lensini Siena
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350
National Gallery, London
★★★★★
THE NATIONAL GALLERY’s take on the most exciting 50 years of Siena’s artistic production is a remarkable achievement: a pleasure for the eye and commendable for its ability to make medieval religious art accessible.
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