Oderisi da Gubbio


Oderisi da Gubbio 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:
Oderisi was immortalized by Dante Alighieri, who placed him in Canto XI of Purgatory. Recognizing him, Dante refers to Oderisi as honor of Gubbio and the honor of that art of illumination sought after in Paris? Oderisi replies that vanity brought him here; that the brush of his pupil, Franco Bolognese is more worthy. In some of the more stunning poetry of the Cantos, he bemoans the ills brought about by earthly vanity: