Visualizzare la storia. Indagini sul rapporto tra testo e immagine nel libro di storia fra i secoli XIV e XV

This research investigates the relationship between text and image in a selection of illustrated vernacular chronicles from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with particular attention to the manuscripts of Giovanni Villani’s Nuova Cronica, Giovanni Sercambi’s Croniche, and Ferraiolo’s Cronaca (Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Chigiano L VIII 296; Lucca, Archivio di Stato, 107; New York, Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum, M801). The study stems from an interest in the intricate interaction between the verbal and visual dimensions within illuminated manuscripts and seeks to elucidate how the figurative component contributes to the construction of meaning, the articulation of historiographical discourse, and the reception of the work. Methodologically, the research combines philological, codicological, and iconographic approaches, placing textual analysis in dialogue with the study of illustrative apparatuses, page layout, and the material interplay between script and image. Particular attention is devoted to the cultural and production contexts of the codices, to the visual models that informed their decoration, and to the possible direct involvement of the authors (who in some cases also acted as scribes) in the conception of the miniatures. The comparative examination of the three manuscripts has made it possible to identify both convergences and divergences in the function of images, in their degree of narrative autonomy, and in their capacity to comment upon or amplify the written text. Through a corpus of iconographic records and close analytical readings, the research aims to outline a preliminary yet coherent picture of late medieval chronicle illustration, foregrounding the image as a vehicle of interpretation, translation, and visual re-elaboration of historical narrative.