Master of Pliny of the Pico della Mirandola

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The illuminator who painted a copy of the Historia naturalis by the ancient writer Pliny around 1481 is called the Master of Pliny of Pico della Mirandola or Picomeister ( Italian : Maestro del Plinio di Pico della Mirandola, Maestro di Pico) . The manuscript was created for the Italian humanist philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola . The work gives the master who is not known by name his emergency name .

The Picomaster probably worked first in Ferrara and then in Venice . His work is believed to have been between 1469 and 1505, where he specialized in the elaborate painting of manuscripts for demanding and very wealthy citizens of these cities. On the one hand, he painted some religious works, but he was also active on illustrations for well-known secular works of Renaissance literature. After 1490 he is said to have also supplied woodcuts for the early printed editions of such works.

Works

  • Illustration to the Historia naturalis of Pliny

In addition to the eponymous work, some other works are also attributed to the Picomeister , including:

  • a splendidly illuminated Italian Bible , printed in Venice in 1471 , now in the central library of Zurich
  • a book of hours dated 1482 for Ulrich Kneußl , provost of Trient and Brixen, today in the library of the Cistercian monastery in Stams

The Picomeister was possibly the woodcuts which appeared in Venice in 1492 print edition of Boccacios Decameron involved or on illustrations for the biographies of famous men and women of antiquity and the Middle Ages, a typical theme of the Renaissance for the edification of the wealthy bourgeoisie, which also Petrarca already had edited.

identification

It can be assumed that the Picomeister could be identical to Bartolomeo del Tintore , a miniature painter who worked in Bologna from the mid-15th century . However, this remains controversial in the professional world.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, BNM, MS Lat. VI, 245.
  2. ↑ Biblia (Italian) / Translated by Niccolò Malermi , with addition by Girolamo Squarciafico. - Venice: Wendelinus de Spira, August 1, 1471. [003636947]
  3. ↑ Stams, Zisterzienserstift, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 44 (see http://www.univie.ac.at/paecht-archiv-wien/ki/stams/cod_44/cod_44.htm ; the description of Cod. 44 together with Lilian Armstrong ).
  4. ^ Laura L. Blom: Illustrating Boccaccio: the Pico Master and the 1492 "Decameron" . In: Immediation (The Cortauld Institute of Art - Postgraduate Research journal. 1/3, 2006, pp. 24-39).
  5. ↑ Lilian Armstrong: Two cycles of "uomini famosi" illuminated by the Pico Master in 1476 . In: Rivista di storia della miniatura , 12.2008, pp. 23-33.
  6. ↑ G. Mariani-Canova: La miniatura veneta del Rinascimento 1450-1500 . Venice 1969, p. 157.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Master of Pliny of the Pico della Mirandola
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Picomeister; Pico master; Master of Pico Pliny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian illuminator
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH 15th century