Oderisi da Gubbio (

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

, circa 1240 -

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 1299) was an Italian painter and manuscript illuminator of the 13th century. Few details of his life are known. Documents to his activities in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

span from 1262 to 1271. In 1292, he was called to Rome by Pope

Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...

to illuminate manuscripts in the papal library. Attributed to Oderisi are: *Illuminated missals from the Canonica della Basilica di San Pietro of Rome; *''Digestium infortiatum'' of Justinian, National Library of Turin; * Conradin Bible,

Walters Art Gallery The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, USA; * ''Psalter 346'', University Library of Bologna; * A Bible, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Oderisi in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''

Oderisi appears in Canto XI of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's ''

Purgatorio ''Purgatorio'' (; Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', following the '' Inferno'' and preceding the '' Paradiso''. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of D ...

'' on the terrace of pride. There, souls repent for their prideful past by carrying heavy stones on their backs that force them to hunch over with their faces to the ground.Dante, Alighieri, Robert Holländer, and Jean Hollander. ''Purgatorio''. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print. Oderisi is described to represent the pride of art and fame.Barolini, Teodolinda. “''Purgatorio'' 11: After 1000 Years?.” ''Commento Baroliniano'', Digital Dante. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2014. https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/purgatorio/purgatorio-11/3 He recognizes Dante from beneath his burden and calls out to the poet who then remembers his face. Dante responds to Oderisi and refers to him as "the honor of Gubbio and of that art which they in Paris call illumination." Oderisi replies as an example of humility, brushing off Dante's praise stating that his pupil, Franco Bolognese, is more worthy of it. He then engages with Dante emphasizing the ills brought about by earthly vanity and the reality of fleeting earthly fame:

References

1299 deaths 1240s births 13th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Manuscript illuminators People from Gubbio {{Italy-painter-13thC-stub