Three Emilian Illuminated Manuscripts at the
Biblioteca di Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Casalbordino
This article focuses on three illuminated manuscripts
kept in the Library of the Monastery of Santa Maria
dei Miracoli at Casalbordino, near Chieti: one Antiphonary
and a Gradual from Parma and a Bolognese manuscript
containing St. Augustine's De civitate Dei, the
latter completely unknown until now. The first two are
re-examined in the context of the illuminated manuscripts
produced in Parma between the end of the 15th and the
early 16th centuries. The illuminator of the Antiphonary
reveals a late Gothic training, combining a Lombard
style and elements from Ferrara, as it was usual in the
Parma area. The Gradual, dated 1507, is updated with
an early Renaissance style. The detailed analysis of both
codices allows a partial reconsideration of this stage of
illumination in Parma. It has furthermore been possible
to attribute the hitherto unknown De civitate Dei, dated
1469, to Domenico Pagliarolo, thus dating to an earlier
stage the impact of Renaissance elements drawn from the
models of Taddeo Crivelli in the Bolognese artist's still
late Gothic style.