Casanatense MS.1880 is an eleventh-century codex containing a biblical commentary and a compilation of saints’ lives, copied and illuminated at the abbey of San Salvatore at Monte Amiata. This humble manuscript reveals, through its ornamental initials, the development of San Salvatore’s particular visual language and the inspirations from which the scriptorium drew. This presentation examines evidence of the monastery’s methods of production, the Insular, Carolingian, and Ottonian motifs that informed the monastery’s unique style, and the impact of an important Insular gospel book that served as a direct model for Casanatense 1880’s only miniature: an evangelist portrait of St. Luke.
Virginia Grace Kendall will complete her MA in Art History at John Cabot University this semester and she is currently an intern at the Norwegian Institutes library.
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