Yates Thompson

The Yates Thompson MS 36 is an illumination of Dante’s Comedy, produced in Siena some time c. 1444 -1450, based partly on its depictions of the dome on Florence’s cathedral. There is little extant information regarding its commission, but its provenance is prestigious: it belonged at one stage to Alfonso V, King of Aragon, Naples and Sicily; was passed on to Duke Fenando de Aragón of Calabria; donated to the convent of San Miguel de los Reyes in 1538; and eventually was purchased by Henry Yates Thompson, from whom it manuscript takes it’s title.

The manuscript in its entirety contains one hundred and ten miniature illustrations accompanying the text, and each of the three books has an historiated capital - highly decorated first letters, which incorporate elements of the narrative within them. The artists who undertook this were Priamo della Quercia (Inferno and Purgatoria) and Giovanni di Paolo (Paradiso). Di Paolo’s work follows the more traditional style of 14th century Sienese illustrators, but interprets each scene as the depiction of an abstract concept rather than a literal narrative; Quercia on the other hand appears to have been influenced by contemporary Renaissance Florentine painting, and is much more interested in emphasising anatomical detail and musculature.

The University of Melbourne’s copy of the text is a facsimile edition. The original resides in the British Library.