A handwritten and decorated Bible from the 1400s, considered one of the supreme masterpieces of Italian Renaissance art, left “home” magnificently on display in the Senate. This Borso d’Este Bible – after its client, the lord and later duke of Ferrara – kept in the Estense Library in Modena, will be on display in the Senate library, in the Piazza della Minerva, from tomorrow until January 16.
This work was created between 1455 and 1461 by calligrapher Pietro Paolo Marone and illuminators Taddeo Crivelli and Franco dei Russi. In the mid-19th century, the book ended up in Austria, among the Habsburg treasures, until in 1923 it was bought for 5 million lire by the senator Giovanni Treccani (founder of the encyclopedia Institute of the same name) who donated it to Emilia’s library.
In this exhibition, with free admission, visitors can read a digital version of the Bible via a touch screen. The exhibition is part of the Jubilee activities and is promoted by the Senate in collaboration with the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Culture, the Estensi Gallery, the government’s extraordinary commissioner for the Jubilee and the Treccani Encyclopedia Institute.
Absent due to commitments were Senate President Ignazio La Russa and Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, at the inauguration they were represented by Senate Vice President Mariolina Castellone and Deputy Culture Minister Gianmarco Mazzi.
Also present were the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and Monsignor Rino Fisichella who is Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for the Evangelization of the Holy See. Fisichella himself underlined: “The Bible that we know is the best-selling book in the world, it is in every home. Unfortunately it also has a lot of dust because it is difficult to take and hold in the hands. a book, a word that is always alive.”
Mantovano: “In the past, great attention was paid to art and faith”
“Towards the end of the jubilee year, Rome hosted, thanks to the Senate, a work of great importance. Each page is a work of art and shows how much faith was held in another era and has important implications for beauty, the ability to make an impact and also the investment of resources.” That was the deputy secretary to the President of the Council, Alfredo Mantovano. “By flipping through these pages you realize the work of miniaturists, painters, scribes – he added – and the great ideal impulse that was behind each of them and above all, how much Borso d’Este invested in just one copy, which means that it is truly valuable”.
Mollicone: ‘The Borso d’Este Bible is the ‘Mona Lisa’ of illuminated books’
“It is a great honor, as president of the Chamber’s Cultural Committee, to participate in the inauguration in the Senate of the exhibition of the Borso d’Este Bible, a symbol of Western culture and Christian roots in Europe. I congratulate all the authorities involved in this important cultural operation, which represents another important part of the great Jubilee program. The Borso d’Este Bible can be considered the ‘Mona Lisa’ of illuminated books and this exhibition is an institutional recognition of this. This was expressed by the President of the Chamber’s Cultural Committee, Federico Mollicone, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the exhibition in the Senate.
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