The case of the Beata Simona: iconography, hagiography and misogyny in three paintings by Taddeo di Bartoli.
'Both Taddeo di Bartoli's major commissions for the Pieve (Collegiata) of San Gimignano included within their (early 15th c.) painted programs specific reference to a wellknown local religious figure: the Beata Simona. The reason for including this particular holy woman was her local influence and reputation, both as founder of the Augustinian convent of S.Maria Maddalena and as intercessor on behalf of San Gimignano and its community. In the case of the murals of the contra-façade chapel, it also appears that Taddeo was commissioned to devise painted imagery which explicitly combined commemoration of the Beata Simona with a pictorial reiteration of the stringent regulation of female morality and sexuality which prevailed within San Gimignano' (BHA).