Resumen de La seconda fase illustrativa dell'"Entrée d'Espagne" della Marciana di Venezia
The second decorative phase of the "Entrée d'Espagne" at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice.
The manuscript Fr. Z. 21 (=257) of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana is the only copy still preserved of the 14th century poem "Entrée d'Espagne", masterpiece of the so-called Franco-Italian literature. It is richly illuminated by two different groups of artists active in two distinct phases during the 14th century: the first one can probably be placed at Padua in the first half of the century, more precisely in the fourth decade, while the second is definitely later. This paper focuses on the second decorative phase, denominated by an anonymous artist, here named the Master of the "Entrée" diptych, whose workshop completed the decoration, left unfinished, starting at f. 84v. Through a stylistic analysis, this decorative campaign is placed around 1395 and linked to a master with a Paduan training, updated on the "neogiottesca" culture, mostly on Altichiero's work, and on illuminations by Nicolò di Giacomo and the Master of the Bruxelles' Initials. The comparison between the Venetian illuminations of Justinus' "Epitome" of Pompeus Trogus' "Historiae Philippicae" (Padua, Seminario Vescovile, 14) and the "Book of Hours" lat. 1352 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, made for a Paduan patron linked to the Franciscan Order, allows us to consider this decorative phase the testimony of a Paduan variant of the lenguage of the so-called Master of Raffain Caresini's "Cronicha", in an age where the cultural exchanges between Padua and Venice were particularly intense.
