122. Jean Dalbon,
Decoration of the Pope’s Room,
Palace of the Popes, Avignon (France), 1336-1337.

Tempera painting. In situ.

 

 

From the middle of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century, Lombardy was the Italian centre of illumination closest to France. At the court of Duke Visconti in Milan courtly arts flourished and the same style, called “soft” by some scholars, was practised as it was in Paris, the five-aisled cathedrals in Bourges and Dijon, or at the Prague court of King Wenceslas IV. Lombardy miniatures united aristocratic exquisiteness with an acute attentiveness and an objectivity that bordered on naturalism. These traits bespeak the culture’s late Gothic character. Master Giovanni dei Grassi and Michelino da Besozzo, both of whom worked for the passionate bibliophile, the archbishop of Milan, Duke of Lombardy Giangaleazzo Visconti, achieved highest perfection in the décor and illumination of luxurious manuscripts.

 

Filippo Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza inherited the taste for beautiful books along with the Duchy of Milan. Belbello da Pavia continued the tradition with his works from 1430 to 1473 and Bonifazio Bembo from 1447 to 1477. A remarkable example of Lombardy illumination is the Semideus, which was part of the Duke’s library. In this work Michelino da Besozzo’s precious coloration is united with Belbello da Pacia’s microscopically subtle, expressive manner.

 

The exciting illustrations of the battle scenes are reminiscent of Bembo’s favoured tinted watercolour drawings, which were typical for Lombardy miniatures. At the time when Milan and Pavia still produced manuscripts similar to the Semideus, Renaissance culture had already triumphed in other areas of Italy, mainly Florence. Illumination did not experience the same upswing as architecture, sculpture and painting. Still, one should not forget that the humanist book was as much an “instrument” of Renaissance culture as the monastic manuscripts had been “instruments” of medieval culture.