Innovation and Process at the Scriptorium of San Salvatore in Monte Amiata: Illumination in an Eleventh-Century Biblical Commentary (Casanatense 1880)
Kendall, Virginia Grace
Kendall, Virginia Grace
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Abstract
Long over-shadowed by the presence of the world’s oldest complete Vulgate Bible, the Codex Amiatinus, the other codices Amiatini of San Salvatore di Monte Amiata have received little attention, despite having come from one of the oldest, most complete monastic libraries of the Middle Ages. To explore the significance of this understudied library and scriptorium, this thesis centers upon the analysis of Casanatense MS.1880, an illuminated eleventh-century miscellany containing Bede’s commentary on the gospel of St. Luke and a compilation of assorted saints’ lives. Revealed through a joint art-historical, palaeographical, and codicological analysis, this manuscript comes forward as a unique witness to the working habits of the Amiatine scribe-monks themselves as well as the tools at their disposal for the copying and transmitting of designs. Most importantly, the decorative initials of MS. 1880 reveal the development of the Badia Amiatina’s visual language and the inspirations from which the scriptorium drew. Combining illumination traditions to create their own idiom, the Amiatine scribe-monks embellished MS. 1880 with a fiery color palette to adorn a synthesis of erupting vines, complex interlace, and fierce animal forms. By examining a selection of early medieval manuscripts from the Ottonian, Carolingian, and Insular traditions, the possible exemplars that inspired the Amiatine scriptorium emerge. This comparative investigation involving MS. 1880 culminates in the discovery of a new eleventh-century provenance for an important Insular gospel book that served as a direct model for Casanatense 1880’s only miniature: an evangelist portrait of St. Luke.
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Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2025.
Date
2025
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Medieval illumination of books and manuscripts
Citation
Kendall, Virginia Grace. "Innovation and Process at the Scriptorium of San Salvatore in Monte Amiata: Illumination in an Eleventh-Century Biblical Commentary (Casanatense 1880)". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2025.