Corsiniana Mirror of Human Salvation

In this unique Mirror of Human Salvation, which was created in Avignon around 1340 by four book artists, the Christian salvation story is linked to the life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226). The Italian saint and founder of the order of the Franciscans, who lived according to the ideal of Jesus, is portrayed as a follower of Christ in 49 gold-decorated miniatures, in which scenes from his life are set in analogy to depictions from the life of Jesus. This is absolutely extraordinary among the many surviving copies of the Speculum humanae salvationis, which was a bestseller of the Middle Ages and explains the divine plan of salvation for laypeople. This is illustrated in a further 178 column-wide miniatures that visualize stories from the Old and New Testaments. Executed in the French Gothic style, they stand out in bright colors and gleaming gold leaf. The remarkable, decidedly Franciscan decoration of the manuscript makes it one of the most interesting and at the same time most artistic copies of the Speculum humanae salvationis.