Siena – The Rise of Painting

This lecture is part of the Summer Term Creative Conversations series; dialogues between artists, curators and writers. Curated by Dr Claudia Tobin, lectures are held Wednesday evenings either at the School or online.

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Simone Martini, 'The Way to Calvary', circa 1326–34. Tempera on poplar, 30 × 20cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris

Caroline Campbell and Imogen Tedbury worked for many years on a research project that became the exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300-1350. Joanna Cannon, Laura Llewellyn and Stephan Wolohojian worked alongside Tedbury and Campbell in their research.

This conversation will consider the genesis and development of the exhibition, its realisation, and look at the reunification of dismembered paintings and other objects that are at its heart. The conversation will also address research questions that the exhibition poses.

Dr Caroline Campbell is Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. She was Director of Collections and Research (2018-22) andthe Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department (2015-18) at the National Gallery. Earlier in her career she held curatorial positions at the National Gallery, the Courtauld Gallery and the Ashmolean Museum. Caroline has curated and co-curated many exhibitions, including Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300-1350; Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece; Mantegna and Bellini; Making Colour; Building the Picture; Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence and Bellini and the East. Her first non-exhibition book, The Power of Art, was published in 2023.

Dr Imogen Tedbury is a curator at the National Gallery, currently responsible for the Later Italian, Spanish and French paintings. She has held curatorial and research positions at the National Maritime Museum, the National Gallery, Royal Holloway University of London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has co-curated several exhibitions, including Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300-1350 and The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea. Ongoing projects include her work as co-author to Sir Nicholas Penny for the Norton Simon Museum’s early Italian paintings catalogue.

Cover image: Detail from Simone Martini, 'The Way to Calvary', circa 1326–34. Tempera on poplar, 30 × 20cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris