Oderisi da Gubbio
Italian painter and manuscript illuminator (1240-1299)
Oderisi da Gubbio (Gubbio, circa 1240 - Rome, 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 span from 1262 to 1271. In 1292, he was called to Rome by Pope Boniface VIII to illuminate manuscripts in the papal library.
Attributed to Oderisi are:
Illuminated missals from the Canonica della Basilica di San Pietro of Rome;
Digestum infortiatum of Justinian, National Library of Turin;
Conradin Bible, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 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's Purgatorio 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. Oderisi is described to represent the pride of art and fame. 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.
The public source identifies “Oderisi da Gubbio” as italian painter and manuscript illuminator (1240-1299). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Oderisi, Gubbio and Italian.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3349149. VIAF identifies the subject as 96459771. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1240, 1299, 1262 and 1271.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oderisi da Gubbio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.