Représentations et fonctions de l'objet-livre dans les enluminures du Paradis du ms Yates Thompson 36

An exclusive characteristic of the Paradise illuminated by Giovanni di Paolo, absent in the miniatures of the Inferno and the Purgatorio, is the recurring representation of the object book, in ten miniatures distributed between Pd V and Pd XXVIII. The investigation focuses on this process of mise en abyme and demonstrates its exegetical potential. The volume, often the volumes (a single miniature can contain up to seven), are the texts (theological, juridical) mentioned by Dante in the lines of the poem. Not only, always loaded with positive connotations, the manuscripts are vehicles of wisdom and moral wisdom promoted by Dante. Moreover, they are an object of cultural and aesthetic transition: narratively connected to medieval figures (Justinian, Dionysius, Isidore...), they enhance the appreciation of manuscripts typical of humanism and of the Biblioteca Alfonsina. In short, focusing our attention and analysis on the presence of the book object inside the miniatures, which are in turn inside the Yates Thompson 36 manuscript, allows us to understand both the visual intelligence of the painter and the bookish taste of the patron.