Oderisi da Gubbio
1240–1299 · Italian medieval manuscript illuminator
Oderisi da Gubbio was an Italian painter and manuscript illuminator of the thirteenth century, born around 1240 in the Umbrian town of Gubbio and dead in Rome in 1299. He is linked to the school of Cimabue, and his name has endured largely because Dante places him in the Purgatorio.
Little is known of his life. Records document his activity in Bologna between the 1260s and 1271, and in the 1290s he was called to Rome, where he died.
His work centred on illuminating manuscripts. Illuminated missals from the Canonica of St Peter's Basilica in Rome are attributed to him, as are the initials of a Digestum infortiatum of Justinian in Turin and a Dominican gradual in Modena. A Bible in the Vatican Library and a Conradin Bible in Baltimore are also linked to his circle.
In Canto XI of the Purgatorio, Dante meets him among the proud, who carry heavy stones on their backs that bend them toward the ground. Oderisi recognises the poet, and when Dante praises him he points to his pupil Franco Bolognese as the worthier artist. He then reflects on fleeting fame: Cimabue once thought he held the field, but Giotto now eclipses him, and another will surely displace Giotto in turn.