Bible of Pietro Cavallini

This magnificent Italian manuscript is considered to be one of the five most beautiful Bibles in the world and is adorned with an astounding array of illumination: over 100 miniatures, 167 decorated initials – almost all with gold leaf – and 270 calligraphic initials. The work was created at the behest of Cardinal Landolfo Brancaccio (d. 1312), a Neapolitan aristocrat and friend of King Charles II of Naples (1254–1309). The artist responsible for completing this commission was Pietro Cavallini (ca. 1250 – ca. 1330), an Italian painter and mosaic designer from Rome about whom little else is known. Nonetheless, numerous works of art are attributed to him including mosaics in various churches and cathedrals that blend Roman forms with Byzantine influences from the East and Gothic influences from the North. The Bible he created for Cardinal Brancaccio is one of the greatest memorials not only to his own artistic created, but to the emerging Renaissance style as a whole.