Ego enim sum minimus omnium miniatorum. Monaci e miniatori itineranti negli scriptoria olivetani tra XIV e XV secolo.

The specific subject of the research is the group of thirteen fifteenth-century liturgical codices from the Olivetan monastery of San Giorgio in Ferrara, now preserved under the call numbers A to O in the archives of the Schifanoia Museum in Palazzo Bonacossi. The aim is to provide an exhaustive study of this liturgical service, both in terms of its decorative programme and the craftsmen involved, and in terms of its liturgical and devotional aspects. Specific attention is also devoted to olivetan breviaries and missals. This in-depth investigation will allow us to compare the group of Ferrara codices with other important Olivetan commissions of similar chronology and area, in particular that of San Michele in Bosco in Bologna, to which I have dedicated a study in the past, and that of the mother house of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, which has recently become much better known thanks to a summary contribution by Mauro Tagliabue and Giordana Mariani Canova. In order to gain a better understanding of the choices made within the Olivetan congregation regarding the preparation of choir books, a comparative approach is undoubtedly to be preferred. The continuous mobility of monks within the various families of the order gave rise to a fascinating circulation of both internal craftsmen (monk calligraphers who transcribed the texts and created the filigree decorations) and external craftsmen (lay illuminators, or workshops operating in more than one context and/or with similar stylistic choices in the various choral series). This dynamism obviously involved not only all those monks who actively contributed to the production of the codices, but also their fellow monks who simply used them, reading and singing in the context of community liturgies. This evidence leads to a further working hypothesis, namely that stylistic and iconographic uniformity was intentionally established between the various liturgical services with the aim of emphasising the spiritual unity of the numerous families at the very moment when, although distant, they formed a single body in prayer.