The National Library of Naples presents a precious medieval miniature of the Comedy and for Dante Say on social media the portraits of Dante
[Press release]
La National Library On the occasion of “DANTE Dì 2021”, Vittorio Emanuele III of Naples presents online in his digital showcase, in a new high-resolution version, one of the most significant and precious medieval illuminated manuscripts preserved in his collections.
This is one of the first manuscripts of the Divine Comedy, dated 1350-1375. The precious manuscript, which has survived incomplete, contains, in fact, only a few cantos of the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, superbly illustrated, it offers a fundamental contribution to the study of the history of miniatures in Italy between the 200th and 300th centuries, and the new high-resolution digitalisation now allows for a detailed and precise analysis.
The codex contains 76 pen drawings, some lightly colored in red, depicting scenes from the Comedy and accompanying the text. The illustrations, which we find only in the first two canticles of the poem, generally in the lower margin of the sheet, are part of the figurative culture current in Umbria in the second half of the fourteenth century.
The codex had long been considered Neapolitan, and the drawings attributed to two Neapolitan masters (Rotili, 1972; p. 31). Instead, at the end of the last century it was possible to attribute the illustrations to four artists from Perugia (Subbioni, 1998; pp. 23-36) and more recently a different distribution and attribution among the four miniaturists from Perugia has also been reached (Capaldo, 2017; 2018).
“The important and extensive presence of Dante's works in the Library's collections – says the Library's director, Salvatore Buonomo – testifies to the perception of Alighieri as a common heritage of all Italians, an expression of the cultural pre-eminence of our country. Particularly rich and lively is the nineteenth-century documentation that combines the tradition of critical studies, from Settembrini to De Sanctis, with the vision of Dante perceived as a civil poet, a prophetic forerunner of a united and independent Italy, valuable illustrated texts, original and exclusive publications and articles”.
While waiting to be able to exhibit the vast material it owns in a bibliographical and iconographic exhibition as part of “DANTE PER TUTTI” - Celebration of the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri - the National Library of Naples, also for “DANTE Dì”, presents on its social pages a showcase of PORTRAITS OF DANTE, taken from the publications held in the Library, among the most significant, but also among the most particular and curious.
Read also here
Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy
Membranous manuscript, sec. XIV (1350-1375) Perugia (Ms. XIII C 4)
[Inferno, from the last verse of Canto XIII of the Inferno to verse 132 of Canto XXXII; Purgatory, from verse 118 of Canto VIII of Purgatory to 126 of Canto XII; Paradise, from verse 100 of Canto XXXI to verse 72 of Canto XXXIII.]
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