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Painting a New Portrait: The Unknown Artists of Biblioteca Vallicelliana Ms A.1
Asenas, Elizabeth Cheryl
Asenas, Elizabeth Cheryl
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Abstract
This study undertakes a thorough examination of the decorative vocabulary of the illuminated initials of the Italian Giant Bible, Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, Ms A.1. It is considered one of the most anomalous Italian Giant Bibles because of its highly unusual vocabulary. These decorations --- acrobatic nude figures with swords, elephant heads devouring birds, and shoots of fantastical foliage -- are surprisingly understudied given their wildly imaginative nature. It is perhaps due to the manuscript’s lack of key features regarded as hallmarks of the Giant Bible genre --the decorative “Geometrical” initial type, and the use of a “standardized” Caroline minuscule -- that have kept this manuscript out of the immense amount of literature on Giant Bibles.
This study is aimed at creating a language and a classification system to analyze the ornamental vocabulary of the decorative motifs employed by the artists in this manuscript. Through the naming, defining and documenting of these motifs a classification system will be devised. In treating the decorative motifs as a singular avenue of study, this thesis ultimately aims to understand more about the creators of this particular manuscript through their decorative choices, which in turn will paint a better understanding of the repertoire of visual motifs available to the artists or the historical traditions that inspired them. In developing a language to describe the ornamental vocabulary, this thesis also seeks to encourage scholarly consistency in terminology that will aid in the investigation of decorative elements, which in turn will provide more information concerning this still understudied genre of manuscripts.
Description
Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2020.
Date
2020
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Keywords
Bible, Illustrations, Illumination of books and manuscripts
Citation
Asenas, Elizabeth Cheryl. "Painting a New Portrait: The Unknown Artists of Biblioteca Vallicelliana Ms A.1". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2020.