Originali sovversioni al canone classico: alcuni imagini di Mercurio nei codici medievali

• Autores: Manuela Gianandrea
• Localización: Rivista di storia della miniatura, ISSN 1126-4772, Nº. 15, 2011, págs. 61-72
• Idioma: italiano
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The study begins by observing the image of Mercury in some medieval manuscripts (Montecassino, Archivio dell�Abbazia, Casin. 132, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 10268; London, British Library, Add 23770), in which the pagan god is represented in ways totally alterae than classical iconography, once with a canine head, another time dressed as a bishop or as a clerk. Starting from the studies of Saxl and Seznec, the analysis places through method which goes from text to context, to explain with the help of literary sources and the study of contemporary�s cultural context, these particular changes occurred to classical iconography.

    The canine head of Mercury in the codes of the Rabano Mauro�s De rerum Naturis, from the Casin. 132 to Vat. Pal. lat. 291, depends from a common starting model of the two manuscripts, given the constant repetition and transformation of some original iconographic attributes. These attributs result, no doubt, by the will of the first decorator of De universo to respect and show faithfully the Rabano�s text, with the aim of realize an educational and pedagogical version of the encyclopedia. In particular, the canine head, inherited from Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville and adopted by his illustrator, finds its explanation in the medieval conception of Mercury as the god of dialogue, so shrewd and intelligent as the dog.

    In the ms.10268 of the Munich National Library and in the ms. 2352 of the Wien National Library, illustrated versions of the Liber introductorius ad astrologiam by Michael Scot, Mercury appears in heterodox forms, such as a Christian bishop. This �curious� iconography is explained by Saxl with the circulation of the Arabic astronomical codes and with the resulting overlap between Hermes and the Babylonian Nabu, the god of letters. However, given the importance of these influences, it still remains a significant gap to be filled: the cultural reasons that may have supported and facilitated the rapprochement between the West Mercury and Nabu and the genesis of a new iconography of the pagan god, such as scholar, teacher, scientist and, even, bishop. The reasons for this transformation are probably looking for in the sources of Michael Scot and, more generally, in the association between Mercury and Hermes Trismegistus, the great Egyptian scholar, who became during the Middle Ages and especially from the twelfth century with the School of Chartres, a pagan prophet of Christianity.