Capturing Biographies: Materiality, Mobility and Agency of the Illuminated Fragments Collection at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg
Final Report Abstract
Among the holdings of the Graphic Collection of the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg (GNM) is a large collection of miniature paintings from the 9th to the 18th century, consisting of more than three hundred individual pages, initials, and decorative frames that were cut out from German and Italian manuscripts. Despite their extraordinary significance for the history of book illumination, this collection of fragments or cuttings was overlooked and never thoroughly studied. The aim of this project was to examine the history, significance, and function of these neglected artworks. Based on an interdisciplinary research approach that combined the analysis of the material aspects of these fragments with an investigation of their cultural significance, the individual biographies of each piece in the collection were reconstructed, tracing their transformation into modern museum objects. By doing so, the multiple identities of these book paintings were revealed, as their status changed depending on time and place: they were part of medieval manuscripts, cut out and collected as curiosities, rediscovered at the end of the 18th century as examples of a lost primitive art, reproduced as models for modern product design in the context of the Arts & Crafts movement, and ultimately became subjects of study in various academic disciplines. Reconstructing the diverse itineraries and life stages of the individual cuttings from the GNM the project has, for the first time, provided insights into why private collectors in Nuremberg, such as the GNM’s founder Hans von und zu Aufsess, began collecting Italian and German book illuminations in the early 19th century. Furthermore, the fragments were placed in relation to their parental leaves —cuttings from the same manuscripts—that are now housed in other collections in Germany, England, France, Italy, and North America. As a result, it became possible not only to present a vivid panorama of the iconographic and stylistic features of these fragments but also to explore the economic, sociocultural, and religious contexts in which they circulated. In this sense, the project also aimed at a critical reassessment of the history of European and North American miniature collections—an aspect largely absent from the German academic discourse. In fact, the GNM was the first museum in Germany to possess such a collection, thereby taking on a pioneering role in the collection of illuminated fragments in other European museums. This project thus maked a significant contribution to a better understanding of the GNM’s holdings and invites further reflection on European identity and shared cultural heritage.
Publications
-
Collecting miniatures in 19th century Germany: the case of Carl Ferdinand Friedrich von Nagler and the making of the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, in Libraries of Curiosities, ed. by A. Baliński, Gdańsk 2023, pp. 167-194
Beatrice Alai
-
Il Maestro dei Corali di Assisi, in Il Maestro di San Francesco e lo stil novo del Duecento umbro, exh. cat., ed by A. De Marchi, V. Picchiarelli, E. Zappasodi, Cinisello Balsamo (MI) 2023, Cat. 5.3, pp. 300-311
Beatrice Alai
-
Un cielo stellato per Sabina: frammenti di una misconosciuta Bibbia umbro-romana duecentesca a Francoforte, in Biblia. Giornata di studi in memoria di Sabina Magrini, ed. by D. Speranzi, Viella 2023, pp. 103-133
Beatrice Alai
-
“Diese Denkmale den Forschern und Liebhabern zu erschließen”: Die illuminierten Einzelminiaturen-Sammlungen in Frankfurt, “Imprimatur”, Neue Folge, XXVIII, 2023, pp. 245-268
Beatrice Alai
-
Cuttings from an Illustrated Twelfth-Century French Manuscript Bible in Los Angeles and Berlin. Getty Research Journal, 19.
Alai, Beatrice & Kidd, Peter
-
Per la riscoperta della miniatura italiana a Francoforte sul Meno: la collezione di ritagli dell’Historisches Museum (XIII-XVI secolo), “Bollettino d’Arte”, 107, 55/56 (2022), 2024, pp. 101-128
Beatrice Alai
-
Ritagli inediti del Maestro dello Statuto del 1337 e del Maestro del Graduale I di Montepulciano (e su altri cuttings già in collezione Ramboux del Germanisches Nationalmuseum di Norimberga), “Aevum”, 98, fasc. 2, 2024, pp. 1-46
Beatrice Alai
-
The Italian Illuminated Incunabula at the Stadtbibliothek in Nuremberg: first Observations on their Provenance and Decoration, “Gutenberg Jahrbuch”, 99, 2024, pp. 134-149
Beatrice Alai
-
Un'iniziale dai corali trecenteschi della Cattedrale di Pavia e una pagina della bottega del Maestro dei Graduali di San Salvatore in collezioni tedesche, in Laboratorio. Studi di Storia dell’arte medievale, moderna e contemporanea, ed. by L. C. Schiavi, P. L. Mulas, Milano 2024, pp. 21-37
Beatrice Alai
