Sabina Zonno is the Curatorial Research Associate of European Art at The Huntington Art Museum in San Marino, California and is the Co-PI of the NEH-funded project "Global Virtual Access Library" at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She is specializing in Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts and has experience in the field of digital humanities. Sabina holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Padua, Italy. Her research has been supported twice by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, the International Center of Medieval Art, the Renaissance Society of America, the College Art Association, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Il libro miniato e il suo committente: per la ricostruzione delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche del medioevo italiano (XI-XIVsecolo), ed. by T. D'Urso, A. Perriccioli Saggese and G.Z. Zanichelli, Padua: Il Poligrafo, pp. 473-494., 2016
Booldly bot meekly. Essays on the Theory and Practice of Translation in the Middle Ages in Honour of Roger Ellis, ed. by C. Batt and R. Tixier, Turnhout: Brepols, 2018
This paper focuses on the intriguing story of a luxury Psalter illuminated in thirteenth-century ... more This paper focuses on the intriguing story of a luxury Psalter illuminated in thirteenth-century Paris and now in Padua, Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile, MS 353, and of its owners.
My paper presents some of the first results of my postdoctoral research in the project MeVe Medie... more My paper presents some of the first results of my postdoctoral research in the project MeVe Medieval Veneto Medieval Europe - Identity and Alterity. In my research, I examined seventy illuminated manuscripts of French origins arrived in Padua in the thirteenth and fourteenth century.
In this period the city was an important international cultural centre where diverse intellectual and artistical experiences converged, and these codices perfectly mirror the cosmopolitan character of the city and the intricate network of international connections in Medieval Europe. They also document the dynamic and fruitful relations between Veneto and Europe, and in particular between Padua and Paris, Avignon, and Toulouse, and they also inform us of the fundamental role played by the students, friars, bishops, and clerics travelling abroad who introduced in Veneto these foreign exemplars still kept in the Paduan libraries.
This monographic issue of the Parisian revue "Art de l'enluminure" presents the results of my doc... more This monographic issue of the Parisian revue "Art de l'enluminure" presents the results of my doctoral research on a magnificent luxury illuminated Psalter produced in Paris probably at the end of the 1260s. The manuscript analysed is a real masterpiece of Gothic French art and was probably commissioned by a powerful lady who is portrayed in the book.
The article describes the historical, cultural, and artistical context in which this manuscript of rare beauty was executed. The analysis of the calendar and the decorative apparatus, and the comparisons with other codices commissioned by the French court of king Louis IX seem to confirm that it was ordered by a noble woman connected to the royal Capetian family on the one hand and the counts of Champagne on the other. The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the possible way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
This essay presents the story of a luxury illuminated thirteenth-century Parisian Psalter that is... more This essay presents the story of a luxury illuminated thirteenth-century Parisian Psalter that is a real masterpiece of Gothic French art. It investigates and describes the historical, cultural, and artistical context in which this manuscript of rare beauty was executed, proposing a new date for it at the end of the 1260s. The analysis of the calendar and the decorative apparatus, and the comparisons with other codices produced for the French court of king Louis IX seem to confirm that the Psalter was commissioned by a noble French lady connected to the royal Capetian family on the one hand and the counts of Champagne on the other.
The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
This article focuses on the imagery of the castle in medieval art considering in particular some ... more This article focuses on the imagery of the castle in medieval art considering in particular some codices executed in England in the fourteenth century. These exemplars have a strict iconographic relation to coeval Parisian ivories, but they also reveal a more intricate network of symbols probably due to the fundamental interconnection between text and image. The castle consequently reveal its metaphorical nature, but also show the coexistence of secular and sacred aspects that are the essence of medieval culture and art.
Ladies, Knights, and Weapons in The Assault on the Castle of Love
My paper will focus on the ima... more Ladies, Knights, and Weapons in The Assault on the Castle of Love
My paper will focus on the image of the assault of the castle of love as a public tournament, a private recreational spectacle, and an allegorical game described in medieval historical sources and portrayed in codices, ivories, and tapestries. I will start from the detailed account of the first siege organized during a festival in Treviso (Italy) in 1214 contained in the Cronica in facti et circa facta Marchie trivixane by the chronicler Rolandino da Padova (1200–76). This text in Latin provides interesting information on jousting equipment, weapons used by the knights attacking on the castle and the ladies defending the fortification, and the roles and strategy of the participants in the battle. I will consider the different literary motifs and traditions that gave rise to this actual leisure activity, and examine the results of the relationship between literature and game in medieval art. In particular, I will examine some of the carved caskets and mirror-cases where the image of the assault of the castle becomes a metaphor for love conquest, and three illuminated English codices where the same image is a visual translation of the sacred or secular text contained in each book: the Peterborough Psalter (Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 9961-62, fol. 91v), the Treatise of Walter de Milemete De Nobilitatibus, sapientiis et prudentiis regum (Oxford, Christ Church Library, MS 92, fols 3v–4r), and the Luttrell Psalter (London, British Library, Add. MS 42130, fol. 75v).
A little-known treasure of Parisian Gothic art, that competes with the most precious manuscripts ... more A little-known treasure of Parisian Gothic art, that competes with the most precious manuscripts ordered by the court of King Louis IX in the 1250s-1270s, has been kept in Padua since the fourteenth century. The quality of the materials of this lavish Psalter – the fine and white parchment, the burnished and pounced gold leaves, the precious colored inks, and the very good pigments and colors – is excellent; equally, or even more, impressive is the rare beauty of its pages displaying an exceptional cycle of eight full-page miniatures at the beginning and a sophisticated series of ten historiated initials illuminated by a unique master of exceptional skills in the textual divisions. This princely book was commissioned by a woman of the highest aristocracy portrayed before the Virgin and Child in a single full-page miniature on fol. 133v, and her mysterious identity is still matter of a lively discussion.
To retrace the international history of this intriguing masterpiece, I will examine first the evidence for the possible identification of the patroness with Isabelle of France, daughter of Louis IX and wife of Thierry de Champagne, and second, the plausible ways in which the manuscript arrived in Padua and its second life in the female Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter where it was in the hands of the abbess Bartolomea da Carrara and of her community after her death.
The New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies
The Pontifical Anthonian Library in the Franciscan convent of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padu... more The Pontifical Anthonian Library in the Franciscan convent of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua houses one of the very few examples in the world of an intact collection of precious Medieval illuminated manuscripts. It is a rare and paradigmatic case of a series originally formed in the first half of the thirteenth century when the Basilica was already conceived of in Europe as an emblematic symbol of the Franciscan Order, an important destination of the widespread phenomenon of cultural and religious pilgrimage, and an icon of civic identity, exactly as nowadays. The recent studies conducted on the library and in particular on the foreign manuscripts arrived in the Middle Ages have shown the international nature of the convent and the collection, but also the cosmopolitan character of the city. Both as purchases made by the friars during their peregrinations to participate in the general chapters or to complete their studies in the most prestigious universities in the Continent, or as donations of very illustrious protagonists of the contemporary Paduan society, these French and English manuscripts document the multiculturalism of the city at the time. In my paper I will explore the effects on local traditions of the introduction in the collection of these foreign products, considering how they changed the life of the Franciscan community and the identity of Padua. The analysis of the dialogue between tradition and innovation will help to meditate on the convergence of diverse cultural and artistical experiences in the same context and to reflect on alterity as a driving force for development
"I am going to present some of the results of my postdoctoral research at Padua University. I wil... more "I am going to present some of the results of my postdoctoral research at Padua University. I will focus on some of the illuminated French manuscripts in the medieval conventual libraries of the Basilica of Saint Anthony and the church of the Eremitani and still kept in Padua in the library in the convent of the Basilica of Saint Anthony and in the University Library.
I will consider the cosmopolitan character of Padua in the Middle Ages documented also by the arrival of these French codices, the European contacts, and the consequent international interchange of ideas, and you we will see the results of the presence in a medieval city of diverse intellectual experiences coming from abroad from an artistical and intellectual point of view.
I will also examine some manuscripts in detail focusing on the peculiar text-image interplay that display the polysemic significance of medieval figurative language and on the role of illuminated margins as diversions amplifying the meaning of the text."
Illumination translates:
The image of the castle in the fourteenth-century England
The image... more Illumination translates:
The image of the castle in the fourteenth-century England
The image of the castle is a noteworthy topic this paper explores exemplifying the several meanings it assumed in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The work shows that it was not only exploited by the illuminators as a fantastic architectural frame to introduce the figures, but also as a symbolical image where we can see now the emblematic interplay between the sacred contents of the adjacent text and the secular divertissements in the margins. The castle can be considered an icon of medieval culture where the conventional iconography interacts with courtly subjects, creating a very complex allegorical structure exemplifying the two combining souls of medieval culture.
Il libro miniato e il suo committente: per la ricostruzione delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche del medioevo italiano (XI-XIVsecolo), ed. by T. D'Urso, A. Perriccioli Saggese and G.Z. Zanichelli, Padua: Il Poligrafo, pp. 473-494., 2016
Booldly bot meekly. Essays on the Theory and Practice of Translation in the Middle Ages in Honour of Roger Ellis, ed. by C. Batt and R. Tixier, Turnhout: Brepols, 2018
This paper focuses on the intriguing story of a luxury Psalter illuminated in thirteenth-century ... more This paper focuses on the intriguing story of a luxury Psalter illuminated in thirteenth-century Paris and now in Padua, Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile, MS 353, and of its owners.
My paper presents some of the first results of my postdoctoral research in the project MeVe Medie... more My paper presents some of the first results of my postdoctoral research in the project MeVe Medieval Veneto Medieval Europe - Identity and Alterity. In my research, I examined seventy illuminated manuscripts of French origins arrived in Padua in the thirteenth and fourteenth century.
In this period the city was an important international cultural centre where diverse intellectual and artistical experiences converged, and these codices perfectly mirror the cosmopolitan character of the city and the intricate network of international connections in Medieval Europe. They also document the dynamic and fruitful relations between Veneto and Europe, and in particular between Padua and Paris, Avignon, and Toulouse, and they also inform us of the fundamental role played by the students, friars, bishops, and clerics travelling abroad who introduced in Veneto these foreign exemplars still kept in the Paduan libraries.
This monographic issue of the Parisian revue "Art de l'enluminure" presents the results of my doc... more This monographic issue of the Parisian revue "Art de l'enluminure" presents the results of my doctoral research on a magnificent luxury illuminated Psalter produced in Paris probably at the end of the 1260s. The manuscript analysed is a real masterpiece of Gothic French art and was probably commissioned by a powerful lady who is portrayed in the book.
The article describes the historical, cultural, and artistical context in which this manuscript of rare beauty was executed. The analysis of the calendar and the decorative apparatus, and the comparisons with other codices commissioned by the French court of king Louis IX seem to confirm that it was ordered by a noble woman connected to the royal Capetian family on the one hand and the counts of Champagne on the other. The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the possible way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
This essay presents the story of a luxury illuminated thirteenth-century Parisian Psalter that is... more This essay presents the story of a luxury illuminated thirteenth-century Parisian Psalter that is a real masterpiece of Gothic French art. It investigates and describes the historical, cultural, and artistical context in which this manuscript of rare beauty was executed, proposing a new date for it at the end of the 1260s. The analysis of the calendar and the decorative apparatus, and the comparisons with other codices produced for the French court of king Louis IX seem to confirm that the Psalter was commissioned by a noble French lady connected to the royal Capetian family on the one hand and the counts of Champagne on the other.
The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
This article focuses on the imagery of the castle in medieval art considering in particular some ... more This article focuses on the imagery of the castle in medieval art considering in particular some codices executed in England in the fourteenth century. These exemplars have a strict iconographic relation to coeval Parisian ivories, but they also reveal a more intricate network of symbols probably due to the fundamental interconnection between text and image. The castle consequently reveal its metaphorical nature, but also show the coexistence of secular and sacred aspects that are the essence of medieval culture and art.
Ladies, Knights, and Weapons in The Assault on the Castle of Love
My paper will focus on the ima... more Ladies, Knights, and Weapons in The Assault on the Castle of Love
My paper will focus on the image of the assault of the castle of love as a public tournament, a private recreational spectacle, and an allegorical game described in medieval historical sources and portrayed in codices, ivories, and tapestries. I will start from the detailed account of the first siege organized during a festival in Treviso (Italy) in 1214 contained in the Cronica in facti et circa facta Marchie trivixane by the chronicler Rolandino da Padova (1200–76). This text in Latin provides interesting information on jousting equipment, weapons used by the knights attacking on the castle and the ladies defending the fortification, and the roles and strategy of the participants in the battle. I will consider the different literary motifs and traditions that gave rise to this actual leisure activity, and examine the results of the relationship between literature and game in medieval art. In particular, I will examine some of the carved caskets and mirror-cases where the image of the assault of the castle becomes a metaphor for love conquest, and three illuminated English codices where the same image is a visual translation of the sacred or secular text contained in each book: the Peterborough Psalter (Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 9961-62, fol. 91v), the Treatise of Walter de Milemete De Nobilitatibus, sapientiis et prudentiis regum (Oxford, Christ Church Library, MS 92, fols 3v–4r), and the Luttrell Psalter (London, British Library, Add. MS 42130, fol. 75v).
A little-known treasure of Parisian Gothic art, that competes with the most precious manuscripts ... more A little-known treasure of Parisian Gothic art, that competes with the most precious manuscripts ordered by the court of King Louis IX in the 1250s-1270s, has been kept in Padua since the fourteenth century. The quality of the materials of this lavish Psalter – the fine and white parchment, the burnished and pounced gold leaves, the precious colored inks, and the very good pigments and colors – is excellent; equally, or even more, impressive is the rare beauty of its pages displaying an exceptional cycle of eight full-page miniatures at the beginning and a sophisticated series of ten historiated initials illuminated by a unique master of exceptional skills in the textual divisions. This princely book was commissioned by a woman of the highest aristocracy portrayed before the Virgin and Child in a single full-page miniature on fol. 133v, and her mysterious identity is still matter of a lively discussion.
To retrace the international history of this intriguing masterpiece, I will examine first the evidence for the possible identification of the patroness with Isabelle of France, daughter of Louis IX and wife of Thierry de Champagne, and second, the plausible ways in which the manuscript arrived in Padua and its second life in the female Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter where it was in the hands of the abbess Bartolomea da Carrara and of her community after her death.
The New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies
The Pontifical Anthonian Library in the Franciscan convent of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padu... more The Pontifical Anthonian Library in the Franciscan convent of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua houses one of the very few examples in the world of an intact collection of precious Medieval illuminated manuscripts. It is a rare and paradigmatic case of a series originally formed in the first half of the thirteenth century when the Basilica was already conceived of in Europe as an emblematic symbol of the Franciscan Order, an important destination of the widespread phenomenon of cultural and religious pilgrimage, and an icon of civic identity, exactly as nowadays. The recent studies conducted on the library and in particular on the foreign manuscripts arrived in the Middle Ages have shown the international nature of the convent and the collection, but also the cosmopolitan character of the city. Both as purchases made by the friars during their peregrinations to participate in the general chapters or to complete their studies in the most prestigious universities in the Continent, or as donations of very illustrious protagonists of the contemporary Paduan society, these French and English manuscripts document the multiculturalism of the city at the time. In my paper I will explore the effects on local traditions of the introduction in the collection of these foreign products, considering how they changed the life of the Franciscan community and the identity of Padua. The analysis of the dialogue between tradition and innovation will help to meditate on the convergence of diverse cultural and artistical experiences in the same context and to reflect on alterity as a driving force for development
"I am going to present some of the results of my postdoctoral research at Padua University. I wil... more "I am going to present some of the results of my postdoctoral research at Padua University. I will focus on some of the illuminated French manuscripts in the medieval conventual libraries of the Basilica of Saint Anthony and the church of the Eremitani and still kept in Padua in the library in the convent of the Basilica of Saint Anthony and in the University Library.
I will consider the cosmopolitan character of Padua in the Middle Ages documented also by the arrival of these French codices, the European contacts, and the consequent international interchange of ideas, and you we will see the results of the presence in a medieval city of diverse intellectual experiences coming from abroad from an artistical and intellectual point of view.
I will also examine some manuscripts in detail focusing on the peculiar text-image interplay that display the polysemic significance of medieval figurative language and on the role of illuminated margins as diversions amplifying the meaning of the text."
Illumination translates:
The image of the castle in the fourteenth-century England
The image... more Illumination translates:
The image of the castle in the fourteenth-century England
The image of the castle is a noteworthy topic this paper explores exemplifying the several meanings it assumed in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The work shows that it was not only exploited by the illuminators as a fantastic architectural frame to introduce the figures, but also as a symbolical image where we can see now the emblematic interplay between the sacred contents of the adjacent text and the secular divertissements in the margins. The castle can be considered an icon of medieval culture where the conventional iconography interacts with courtly subjects, creating a very complex allegorical structure exemplifying the two combining souls of medieval culture.
Con il presente volume nasce una nuova collana di studi dedicata alla civiltà medievale, che cos... more Con il presente volume nasce una nuova collana di studi dedicata alla civiltà medievale, che costituisce l’esito concreto dell’omonimo progetto “Medioevo veneto, medioevo europeo. Identità e alterità – ME.VE” nel quale, dal 2009, hanno collaborato quattro gruppi di ricerca afferenti ai dipartimenti di Beni Culturali: archeologia, storia dell’arte, del cinema e della musica; Filosofia, Sociologia, Pedagogia e Psicologia Applicata; Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell’Antichità; Studi Linguistici e Letterari dell’Università degli Studi di Padova.
Il libro raccoglie i primi risultati delle ricerche condotte in ambito storico, storico-artistico, musicale, filosofico e filologico-letterario, e fa emergere, grazie alla natura interdisciplinare del progetto, la complessa immagine del Veneto medievale, quale importante crocevia della storia e della civiltà europea, capace di accogliere la cultura internazionale e di elaborarla nel pensiero, nella lingua e nell’arte.
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In this period the city was an important international cultural centre where diverse intellectual and artistical experiences converged, and these codices perfectly mirror the cosmopolitan character of the city and the intricate network of international connections in Medieval Europe. They also document the dynamic and fruitful relations between Veneto and Europe, and in particular between Padua and Paris, Avignon, and Toulouse, and they also inform us of the fundamental role played by the students, friars, bishops, and clerics travelling abroad who introduced in Veneto these foreign exemplars still kept in the Paduan libraries.
The article describes the historical, cultural, and artistical context in which this manuscript of rare beauty was executed. The analysis of the calendar and the decorative apparatus, and the comparisons with other codices commissioned by the French court of king Louis IX seem to confirm that it was ordered by a noble woman connected to the royal Capetian family on the one hand and the counts of Champagne on the other. The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the possible way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
My paper will focus on the image of the assault of the castle of love as a public tournament, a private recreational spectacle, and an allegorical game described in medieval historical sources and portrayed in codices, ivories, and tapestries. I will start from the detailed account of the first siege organized during a festival in Treviso (Italy) in 1214 contained in the Cronica in facti et circa facta Marchie trivixane by the chronicler Rolandino da Padova (1200–76). This text in Latin provides interesting information on jousting equipment, weapons used by the knights attacking on the castle and the ladies defending the fortification, and the roles and strategy of the participants in the battle. I will consider the different literary motifs and traditions that gave rise to this actual leisure activity, and examine the results of the relationship between literature and game in medieval art. In particular, I will examine some of the carved caskets and mirror-cases where the image of the assault of the castle becomes a metaphor for love conquest, and three illuminated English codices where the same image is a visual translation of the sacred or secular text contained in each book: the Peterborough Psalter (Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 9961-62, fol. 91v), the Treatise of Walter de Milemete De Nobilitatibus, sapientiis et prudentiis regum (Oxford, Christ Church Library, MS 92, fols 3v–4r), and the Luttrell Psalter (London, British Library, Add. MS 42130, fol. 75v).
To retrace the international history of this intriguing masterpiece, I will examine first the evidence for the possible identification of the patroness with Isabelle of France, daughter of Louis IX and wife of Thierry de Champagne, and second, the plausible ways in which the manuscript arrived in Padua and its second life in the female Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter where it was in the hands of the abbess Bartolomea da Carrara and of her community after her death.
I will consider the cosmopolitan character of Padua in the Middle Ages documented also by the arrival of these French codices, the European contacts, and the consequent international interchange of ideas, and you we will see the results of the presence in a medieval city of diverse intellectual experiences coming from abroad from an artistical and intellectual point of view.
I will also examine some manuscripts in detail focusing on the peculiar text-image interplay that display the polysemic significance of medieval figurative language and on the role of illuminated margins as diversions amplifying the meaning of the text."
The image of the castle in the fourteenth-century England
The image of the castle is a noteworthy topic this paper explores exemplifying the several meanings it assumed in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The work shows that it was not only exploited by the illuminators as a fantastic architectural frame to introduce the figures, but also as a symbolical image where we can see now the emblematic interplay between the sacred contents of the adjacent text and the secular divertissements in the margins. The castle can be considered an icon of medieval culture where the conventional iconography interacts with courtly subjects, creating a very complex allegorical structure exemplifying the two combining souls of medieval culture.
In this period the city was an important international cultural centre where diverse intellectual and artistical experiences converged, and these codices perfectly mirror the cosmopolitan character of the city and the intricate network of international connections in Medieval Europe. They also document the dynamic and fruitful relations between Veneto and Europe, and in particular between Padua and Paris, Avignon, and Toulouse, and they also inform us of the fundamental role played by the students, friars, bishops, and clerics travelling abroad who introduced in Veneto these foreign exemplars still kept in the Paduan libraries.
The article describes the historical, cultural, and artistical context in which this manuscript of rare beauty was executed. The analysis of the calendar and the decorative apparatus, and the comparisons with other codices commissioned by the French court of king Louis IX seem to confirm that it was ordered by a noble woman connected to the royal Capetian family on the one hand and the counts of Champagne on the other. The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the possible way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
The article also tells the Paduan story of the book explaining the way in which the manuscript could have arrived in Padua in the late Middle Ages.
My paper will focus on the image of the assault of the castle of love as a public tournament, a private recreational spectacle, and an allegorical game described in medieval historical sources and portrayed in codices, ivories, and tapestries. I will start from the detailed account of the first siege organized during a festival in Treviso (Italy) in 1214 contained in the Cronica in facti et circa facta Marchie trivixane by the chronicler Rolandino da Padova (1200–76). This text in Latin provides interesting information on jousting equipment, weapons used by the knights attacking on the castle and the ladies defending the fortification, and the roles and strategy of the participants in the battle. I will consider the different literary motifs and traditions that gave rise to this actual leisure activity, and examine the results of the relationship between literature and game in medieval art. In particular, I will examine some of the carved caskets and mirror-cases where the image of the assault of the castle becomes a metaphor for love conquest, and three illuminated English codices where the same image is a visual translation of the sacred or secular text contained in each book: the Peterborough Psalter (Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 9961-62, fol. 91v), the Treatise of Walter de Milemete De Nobilitatibus, sapientiis et prudentiis regum (Oxford, Christ Church Library, MS 92, fols 3v–4r), and the Luttrell Psalter (London, British Library, Add. MS 42130, fol. 75v).
To retrace the international history of this intriguing masterpiece, I will examine first the evidence for the possible identification of the patroness with Isabelle of France, daughter of Louis IX and wife of Thierry de Champagne, and second, the plausible ways in which the manuscript arrived in Padua and its second life in the female Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter where it was in the hands of the abbess Bartolomea da Carrara and of her community after her death.
I will consider the cosmopolitan character of Padua in the Middle Ages documented also by the arrival of these French codices, the European contacts, and the consequent international interchange of ideas, and you we will see the results of the presence in a medieval city of diverse intellectual experiences coming from abroad from an artistical and intellectual point of view.
I will also examine some manuscripts in detail focusing on the peculiar text-image interplay that display the polysemic significance of medieval figurative language and on the role of illuminated margins as diversions amplifying the meaning of the text."
The image of the castle in the fourteenth-century England
The image of the castle is a noteworthy topic this paper explores exemplifying the several meanings it assumed in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The work shows that it was not only exploited by the illuminators as a fantastic architectural frame to introduce the figures, but also as a symbolical image where we can see now the emblematic interplay between the sacred contents of the adjacent text and the secular divertissements in the margins. The castle can be considered an icon of medieval culture where the conventional iconography interacts with courtly subjects, creating a very complex allegorical structure exemplifying the two combining souls of medieval culture.
Il libro raccoglie i primi risultati delle ricerche condotte in ambito storico, storico-artistico, musicale, filosofico e filologico-letterario, e fa emergere, grazie alla natura interdisciplinare del progetto, la complessa immagine del Veneto medievale, quale importante crocevia della storia e della civiltà europea, capace di accogliere la cultura internazionale e di elaborarla nel pensiero, nella lingua e nell’arte.