The Bologna bible from the Russian State Library (f. 722, no. 734) in Moscow was illuminated ca. 1280 for the Dominicans order. The manuscript offers no information on the manuscript’s patron or scribe, but the iconography attests to the fact that there was a patron and that he had a significant influence on the artistic output.
The bible is extremely richly decorated (154 scenes in historiated initials, additional scenes in the historiated medallions into the margins, numerous compositions at the bas-de-page). Its iconography differentiates the Moscow manuscript from the body of Bologna bibles of the 13th century. One specificity is that personages frequently hold scrolls with texts (54 biblical citations, often fairly extensive – see appendix). Another iconographic specificity is the almost unique illustrative cycle of the psalter, illuminated with 16 initials: 11 of them depict Evangelical episodes, all dedicated to Jesus Christ. The stylistic peculiarities of the bible enable us to trace it to the artistic circle of one of the leading miniaturists of the Bolognese first style, known under the name of Master of Imola. The bible is stylistically closest to the Bologna bible of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Ms. Ludwig I ll). Undoubtedly the Book of Sentences by Peter Lombard at the Austrian National Library (Cod. 1415) originates from the same Bologna workshop. A smaller group of illuminations falls out of the overall pattem. Their author, also from Bologna, can be designated as the Master of Abishag, as in the first scene, David and Abishag. We can see distinct iconographic and stylistic similarities between miniatures by the Master of Abishag and those of the Bologna Juridicial Miscellany at the Martin Bodmer Foundation (Bodmer 14).
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