Abstract

This study analyses the use of painting to support a political message and a political position in Lombardy at the turn of the 14th century. The analysis shows the change in pictorial language that occurred during the pontificate of Boniface VIII, whose initiatives had deep consequences in the conflict between the political factions. This change was shown in a series of commissions by ecclesiastical figures. First, the depictions proposed by the «Ghibelline» bishops Ottone Visconti and Berardo Maggi, showing a message of community and civic peace and a Lombard-style painting, are analyzed. Then, the works commissioned by some Lombard cardinals close to Boniface VIII, based on a factional peace and on a painting style similar to Giotto’s, are examined.