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Detailed record for Egerton 943


Author		Dante Alighieri; Jacopo Alighieri
Title		Divina Commedia : Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, with a short Latin commentary; the Capitolo (ff. 187-187v)
Origin		Italy, N. (Emilia or Padua)
Date		1st half of the 14th century
Language		Italian
Script		Gothic
Artists		Master of the Antiphonar of Padua (see Bollati 2004).
Decoration		261 small miniatures, in colours and gold, throughout. 3 large historiated or inhabited initials with human figures, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the books (ff. 3, 63, 129). Large and smaller decorated foliate initials, many with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold. 2 small initials in blue with red penwork decoration or in red with blue penwork decoration (ff. 42v, 187). Paraph marks in plain red or blue.
Dimensions in mm		390 x 260 (various)
Official foliation		ff. 188 (+ 1 paper, 2 parchment, and 1 paper flyleaves at the beginning, and 2 parchment and 1 paper flyleaves at the end)
Collation		Mainly quires of 10 leaves
Form		Parchment codex
Binding		Post-1600. Gold-tooled red leather over wooden boards; gilt edges.
Provenance		D. Pietro Zani, Conservatore delle stampe della Biblioteca di Parma: certificate of the value of this manuscript signed by him and two others, dated 25 June 1815 (f. 1r). Baron August von Koller (b. 1805, d. 1883), Austrian diplomat, bought from him by the British Museum on 11 June 1842 (a note on flyleaf, f. [iv]), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829)).
Notes		Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Select bibliography		Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1841-1845 (London: British Museum, 1850), 1842, pp. 104-05. Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 10. J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 262. A Guide to the Exhibition of Some Part of the Egerton Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1929), no. 119. Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters, ed. by Harry Bober, 4 vols (London: Warburg Institute, 1916-66), III: Handschriften in englischen Bibliotheken (1953), pp. 138-40. Adelheid Heimann, 'A Twelfth-Century Manuscript from Winchcombe and its Illustrations: Dublin, Trinity College, Ms. 53', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 28 (1965), 86-209 (p. 105). Peter Brieger, Millard Meiss and Charles S. Singleton, Illuminated Manuscripts of the Divine Comedy, 2 vols (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969), I, 262-69, and passim, II, 41, 56, 69, 80, 93, 106, 117, 128, 151, 165, 183, [with additional bibliography]. Alessandro Conti, La Miniature bolognese: Scuole e botteghe 1270-1340 (Bologna: ALFA, 1981), pp. 67-68, figs. 184-86. Cioffari, Vincent, 'Latin Commentary on Paradiso XI from Egerton 943', in Forum Italicum, 17, no. 1, (Spring 1983), 53-63 Marcella Roddewig, Dante Alighieri: Die go¨ttliche Komo¨die : vergleichende Bestandsaufnahme der Commedia-Handschriften (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1984), pp. 163-64, no. 392. Almut Stolte, Fru¨he Miniaturen zu Dantes 'Divina commedia': der Codex Egerton 943 der British Library (Münster: LIT, 1995). Rachel M. Owen, 'Illuminated manuscripts of Dante's Commedia (1330-1490) in their cultural and artistic context' (unpublished doctoral thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2000), pp. 67, 78, 82, 83, 87, 90, 101, 105, 119, 120-21, 151, 153, 155, 157-58, 190, 195, 216, 244, 307, online at http://ethos.bl.uk/DownloadOrder.do?orderNumber=THESIS00796460, [accessed 17.01.14]. Dizionario biografico dei miniatori Italiani: Secoli IX-XVI, ed. by Milvia Bollati (Milan: Bonnard, 2004), p. 1040. Harald Anderson, The Manuscripts of Statius, 3 vols (revised edition: Arlington, Virginia, 2009), III, p. 65. Anna Pegoretti, Indagine su un codice dantesco: La 'Commedia' Egerton 943 della British Library, Studi Italianistici 6 (Ghezzano: Felici Editore, 2014). Chiara Ponchia, Frammenti dell'aldila`: miniature trecentesche della Divina Commedia (Padua: Il poligrafo, 2015). Il Manoscritto Egerton 943: Dante Alighieri, ‘Commedia’. Saggi e Commenti, ed. by Marco Santagata (Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani, 2015) [facsimile].

Images



f. 3 Dante's dream; the leopard and the lion	f. 3 Dante's dream	f. 3 Inferno: Dante, the leopard and the lion

f. 7v Inferno: souls wait for Charon's ferry	f. 9v The noble castle	f. 10 Minos judging three souls.

f. 10 Inferno, Canto V, Second circle: Minos judging three souls	f. 10v Inferno: the carnal sinners	f. 12 Cerberus

f. 16 Phlegyas departs	f. 17 Inferno: Virgil and Dante look up at the furies	f. 21v Dante and Virgil watch the minotaur from below

f. 22 Centaurs by the river of blood	f. 55v Nimrod and Ephialtes	f. 57 Traitors in ice

f. 58 Dante pulls at the hair of a traitor	f. 58v Count Ugolino gnawing Archbishop Ruggieri's scalp	f. 60 Inferno: the traitors in ice

f. 60 Alberigho and the traitors	f. 61 Lucifer devouring Cassius, Brutus and Judus	f. 61 Lucifer devouring Cassius, Brutus and Judus

f. 61 Lucifer devouring Cassius, Brutus and Judus	f. 61v Lucifer's legs and the exit from Hell	f. 61v Lucifer and the mouth of Hell

f. 63 Dante embarks on a ship, and disembarks in Purgatory	f. 64v Virgil picking a reed to bind around Dante's waist	f. 65 An angel ferrying souls to Purgatory

f. 65v The souls disembark; Casella approaches Dante	f. 65v Dante and Casella in Purgatory	f. 67 Purgatory: Dante and Virgil meet the excommunicated

f. 67v King Manfred	f. 68v Virgil explains to Dante why the sun is in the north	f. 69v Belacqua

f. 70 The souls of the indolent	f. 70 Dante and Virgil meet the souls who repented too late	f. 80v The Ark of the Coventant in procession

f. 81 The proud carrying heavy rocks	f. 81 The triumph of Trajan	f. 82 Virgil asks the proud the way

f. 82v Dante bending overi	f. 83v Dante and Virgil contemplating the sin of pride	f. 84v The Angel of Humility showing the way

f. 85v Dante and Virgil hear voices on the air	f. 86 The souls of the envious	f. 86v Sapia of Sienna

f. 87v Guido del Duca	f. 88v The mountain of purification	f. 89v The Angel of Generosity

f. 90 Dante's visions of Mary and Peisistratus's wife	f. 90v The stoning of Stephen	f. 91 The black cloud of anger

f. 91 The black cloud of anger	f. 91v Dante speaks to one of the angry souls	f. 93 The mourning Lavinia

f. 93v The Angel of Meekness	f. 94 Virgil and Dante	f. 95 Dante and Virgil in Purgatory

f. 96 The abbot of St Zeno and the slothful	f. 96v Dante dreams of the Siren	f. 97 The Angel of Zeal

f. 97v The avaricous lay face down;	f. 97v Pope Adrian	f. 99 Hugh Capet

f. 100 The Avaricious and the Prodigal.	f. 100v Dante and Virgil meet Statius.	f. 101v Purgatory, Canto XXI, Terrace 5th: Statius pays homage to Virgil.

f. 102 Dante, Statius and Virgil	f. 103v The tree of the gluttonous	f. 104 Purgatory: the gluttonous

f. 104v Forese Donati among the gluttonous	f. 105v Forese Donati points to the gluttonous	f. 106 Bonagiunta and Dante

f. 107 The gluttonous beside the tree	f. 107v The angel of temperance	f. 108 Purgatory: Dante, Statius and Virgil

f. 108v The souls of the Lustful purged by fire	f. 109v Guido Guinzelli and the lustful kissing	f. 110 Purgatory: Dante observes the lustful

f. 111 Dante speaks to Arnaut	f. 111v The angel of chastity	f. 112 Statius, Dante, and Virgil passing through the wall of fire

f. 112v Purgatory: Dante dreams of Leah picking flowers	f. 113 Dante dreams of Leah	f. 113v Two angels' heads

f. 114 Matilda	f. 115 Purgatory: Matilda and the arc of heaven	f. 115v Matilda and the seven candlesticks

f. 116 Purgatory: a rainbow and souls in white robes	f. 116v The four winged beasts	f. 116v The crowned elders

f. 117 A griffin pulling a chariot	f. 117v Chariot with the seven virtues and apostles	f. 118 Purgatory: A group of angels

f. 121 Dante is led to Beatrice	f. 122 Angels dancing and Dante, Statius and Matilda follow the chariot	f. 122v Purgatory: Statius, Matilda and a sleeping Dante

f. 122v Dante roused by Matilda	f. 123 Beatrice amid the virtues	f. 123v The chariot with the dragon and the eagle

f. 123v The seven horned heads	f. 124 The giant and the harlot	f. 124v Beatrice with the virtues

f. 125v The spring of Eunoe	f. 126 Dante in the spring	f. 129 Dante before Christ

f. 129v Beatrice looks up at the sun	f. 130 The sun	f. 131 Paradise: the heaven of the moon

f. 132v Paradise: five souls and the moon	f. 135v Paradise: the heaven of Mercury	f. 135v Beatrice speaks of the doctrine of free will

f. 136v Detail: six souls and the heaven of mercury	f. 137v Justinian in the heaven of mercury	f. 142v Dante, Beatrice, four men, and the heaven of Venus

f. 144v Five Dominicans in the heaven of the sun	f. 146 Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, and Francis in the heaven of the sun	f. 149 Beatrice and Dante beneath stars

f. 149 Paradise: Beatrice and Dante beneath the stars	f. 149v Aquinas and two other Dominican saints	f. 149v Beatrice, Dante, and three Dominican saints

f. 151 Three Dominicans	f. 151v The Heaven of the sun	f. 152 Paradise: the dazzling light

f. 152v Paradise: four resurrected souls	f. 153 Paradise: six souls	f. 154v Three male souls in the heaven of Mars

f. 156v Detail: three male busts in the heaven of mars	f. 158 Five souls and a cross in the heaven of mars	f. 159 Ten souls in the heaven of Jupiter

f. 159 Detail: ten heads in the heaven of Jupiter	f. 160 Paradise: the eagle's head	f. 161v The eagle's head in the heaven of Jupiter

f. 163v The steps in the heaven of Saturn	f. 164 Peter Damian	f. 165 St Benedict

f. 166 The ladder to the heaven of Saturn	f. 167 Dante speaks with triumphant souls	f. 168 The eighth heaven

f. 168	f. 169	f. 170v Beatrice with saints

f. 171v James and Peter	f. 172 Dante and Beatrice	f. 176 Dante and Beatrice and the nine heavenly orders

f. 181 The Rose of Heaven	f. 181	f. 182

f. 184v	f. 186 Dante and Christ

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