Zotova Elizaveta

"Officium et miraculi sancti Willigisi" (F.183 №368) from the collection of the Russian state library: special features of the iconography of dedication miniatures

Abstract

This article deals with special features of iconography of dedication miniatures in manuscript F. 183. № 368 from the collection of the Russian State Library. This MS was created in Mainz in the middle of the 12th century and contains the text of the church service to archbishop Willigis as well as readings on the miracles of this saint. The article analyses diff erences of these miniatures from traditional iconographic schemes of dedicational scenes — the images of the authors and donators addressing the saint patron; it also attempts to identify probable reasons for the solution that the artist or the commissioner found in this situation. In both miniatures, Archbishop Willigis, venerated in Mainz, is presented as a saint. The article compares the miniatures with images of saint bishops in other manuscripts of the 12th century that are similar in their content. These are lives of saint bishops of Germany and representatives of the imperial church of the 10–12th centuries. The aim of the research was also to identify and describe the roles of those depicted in the miniatures — the archbishop of Mainz Henry I and Hartman, the provost of the cathedral, — in relation to the manuscript: the archbishop as the commissioner and donator, Hartman as a possible author or compiler of the text of the service and description of the miracles. The article also studies such topics as succession of the church rank and imitation of the saint predecessor, typical of images of bishops in MSS created in Germany in the 12th century.

Keywords

book illumination, illuminated manuscript, image of the bishop, image of the saint bishop, iconography, dedication miniature, 12th century, medieval West-European manuscripts, Germany

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Information about the author

Zotova Elizaveta

Place of work: Russian State Library; 16 Mokhovaia Str., Moscow, 110069, Russian Federation;
Post: Senior Archivist, Department of Manuscripts;
Email: tmerigold@yandex.ru.