Bologna Devotional Picture Book Facsimile Edition

Created in Bologna around 1390-1410, the Devotional Picture Book in the Boston Public Library is a small Christian manuscript offering forty-six full-page miniatures of scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ, as well as images of Saint John the Baptist and Saint George. Most of the miniatures are the work of the Master of 1411, whose style is marked by jewel-like coloration, stylized landscapes, and captivating narrative details. It includes many episodes from Christ's ministry rarely found in visual art.

The book's small size and the rich narrative detail of many paintings indicate that each miniature was intended to absorb the devout individual's attention for a prolonged time as an aid to private devotion. Many scenes include figures in the foreground seen from behind, drawing the viewer into the narrative.

Surprising Scenes

The pictorial program is remarkable for including scenes rarely visualized, such as the Miracle at the Bethesda Pool. It was believed that the first to touch the water after an angel stirred it would be cured. An angel is shown, but so is Jesus, who is understood to be the one truly affecting the miracle. In the foreground, the lame man cured by Jesus is shown from behind, responding to Jesus's command to take up his rolled bed and walk (fol. 10v).

Curious Details

The miniatures offer a myriad of interesting details. Not least is the pose of the donkey, ridden side-saddle by Christ, in the Entry into Jerusalem: the animal is facing toward the viewer, with its neck and head arched to the side as it turns to enter the city gate (fol. 18r). Also unusual is the presence of dogs in both miracle scenes involving the blind (fols. 7v and 14v).

Many Faces of Jesus

Although the Master of 1411 usually depicts the adult Jesus with long, light brown hair and wearing an orange or red tunic and a blue overgarment, there are variations in the details of his garments and facial hair. His tunic sometimes has gold trim at the neck, but not always, and it is sometimes colored a light green. He often has the light beard we expect in representations of Jesus, but he appears in other miniatures to be beardless.

A Substantial Fragment

The first two miniatures are devoted to legends concerning the conception and birth of the Virgin. There follows a lacuna (probably two leaves), and the sequence continues with scenes from Christ's infancy, ministry, and Passion—up to the Flagellation (thirty-eight miniatures). There is another lacuna (again, probably two leaves), and the series continues with the post-Resurrection scene of the Supper at Emmaus through the Last Judgment (six miniatures). After a blank page, the Saint John the Baptist and Saint George miniatures follow. It has been suggested that additional images of saints have been lost.

Inscriptions in Latin and Italian

Not long after the miniatures were painted, a series of highly abbreviated Latin-language captions was added to the narrative scenes in red ink in Gothic Hybrida. These seem to be reliable for identifying the often obscure scenes. This scribe did not label the miniatures of saints John the Baptist and George.

Much later, probably in the seventeenth century, another set of inscriptions (in brown ink) identifies the scenes in Italian. The later scribe followed the identifications of the earlier scribe but misidentified the dragon battled by Saint George as the beast of the Apocalypse (fol. 26r). The gold scrolling designs in the borders were a late addition, probably of the seventeenth century.

The manuscript first appeared in the collection of the Austrian coin collector Franz Trau (1842-1905). It was purchased from the sale of his books, manuscripts, and woodcuts to Victor Goldschmidt (1853-1933). It entered the collection of the Boston Public Library in 1941. The binding of blind-tooled and panel-stamped leather over wooden boards dates from the sixteenth century.