The present volume pinpoints the societal and cultural importance of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century miscellanies as well as their role in the understanding of textual creation, transformation and complexity, in both late medieval and early modern societies.

Based on extensive new research, this book explores the distinctive political and diplomatic relationship between the late medieval city of Siena and the Angevin royal family of Naples and the ways in which this relationship impacted upon the production and dissemination of Sienese art during the first half of the fourteenth century.

The Arenberg lineage belongs to the high nobility, whose estates, interests and familial connections have traditionally extended across borders. Their princely and ducal standing was equally reflected in the highly superior quality of their art collection, as they commissioned works from contemporaries such as Rubens, Van Dyck, and later Watteau.