The “Lost Guardians” of Dante’s <i>Inferno</i>: Medium Wave Infrared Imaging Investigations of a XIV Century Illuminated Manuscript

Abstract

On the occasion of the 700th centenary of the death of Dante Alighieri, medium wave infrared imaging analysis of illuminations of the XIV-century code of the Divina Commedia (MS. 1102), hosted in the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome, was performed and discussed. The investigation was carried out by means of thermographic and reflectographic techniques on illuminations where the iconographic representation appeared severely damaged. In particular, through the combined use of both techniques, it was possible to recover the images of the damaged parts of the pictorial layer of the illuminations and of their underdrawings, displaying details of the “lost guardians”, which was useful to reconstruct the conservative history of the precious manuscript.

Keywords

• pulsed infrared thermography
• MWIR reflectography
• illuminations
• imaging investigations
• underdrawings
• Dante’s <i>Inferno</i>