Divine Comedy - Dante Poggiali

This manuscript of Dante Alighieri is sprawling with famous names and superlatives: originating from the second quarter of the Trecento in Florence, it is considered to be the oldest illustrated version of the Divine Comedy. The wonderful visual decoration originates from several great masters of their craft, inter alia, from the circle of Bernardo Daddi and from the circle of Pacino di Bonaguida. It is not only its content – alongside the primary text, it contains the commentaries of Jacopo della Lana, Jacopi di Dante, Guido da Pisa, and a few other accompanying texts – that make this manuscript a valuable historical document, it is a significant testimonial to this outstanding work of world literature!

The Comprehensive Content

Its artful arrangement already indicates the complexity of this manuscript: the primary text is written in two columns down the middle of the pages with the accompanying commentaries in glosses on the margins. These make the so-called Poggiali Codex a significant piece of evidence of the handwritten tradition of early Dante-commentaries. The manuscript contains the so-called Palatine Glosses. Italian and Latin glosses accompany the text of the Commedia along with the commentary by Jacopo di Dante, Dante’s son, as well as texts from Jacopo della Lana and Graziolo Bambaglioli: the Ottimo Commento, Anonimo Latino, and Anononimo Lombardo, as well as Guido de Pisa’s Declaratio.

Historically Significant Miniatures

Aside from this important position in literary history, the manuscript also enchants with its visual adornment. 37 miniatures (32 of them dedicated to the inferno), always arranged directly within the respective text, relate the events in colorful pictures. They are the work of various hands, among them were a master from the circle of Bernardo Daddi and a master from the circle of Pacino de Bonaguida (1280–1340). Colorful initials complete the artistic décor of the manuscript, which originates from the second quarter of the 14th century in Florence and is considered to be the oldest illustrated copy of the Divine Comedy.

The Template of the Poggiali

The manuscript, which is stored today under the shelf mark Ms. Pal. 313 in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence, is also known as the Poggiali-Codex. It was in the possession of Piero de Nero, a Florentine literati and politician of the late 16th century. From there it reached the library of the Guadagni family and finally came into the possession of Gaetano Poggiali (1753–1814), who used the manuscript as a template for his 1807 Commedia. This wonderful version of Dante not only offers a glimpse into this groundbreaking work of world literature, but also into its extremely interesting story within literary history.