25 Jun 07

The Bodleian Library's summer exhibition is celebrating the impact of Italy's 'three crowns', Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, on western literature and art since the Middle Ages. Works by each author, in manuscript and print, are well represented in the Bodleian, which contains one of the most important collections of Italian literature outside Italy.

The exhibition starts by exploring aspects of the medieval and Renaissance reception of these three Italian writers through a display of some of the Library's most visually attractive medieval manuscripts and early printed editions, including one of the earliest illustrated manuscripts of Dante's Divine Comedy, from the middle of the 14th century; and the two masterpieces illustrating Boccaccio's works: the Mantua Filocolo, and the Holkham Hall Decameron, both dating from the 1460s.

The extraordinary revival of British interest in Dante during the last 200 years is shown by fine 19th-century editions of all three writers, many of which come from the huge collection of manuscripts and books donated by the great English Dante scholar Paget Toynbee. Also in the context of this 19th century revival of interest in Dante, the exhibition includes two of the English Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti's most famous paintings, inspired by the Vita nova, Dante's little book of verse.

The exhibition is rounded off by items from the contemporary artist Tom Phillips's archive relating to his Dante projects, showing how his visual work continues this centuries'-old tradition of Dante illustration and scholarship. The Dante Archive was acquired by the Library last April.

Richard Ovenden, Keeper of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, said: 'This is a unique opportunity to see treasures from Oxford in celebration of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. From spectacular medieval manuscripts and early printed editions to the work of major contemporary artists such as Tom Phillips, the exhibits illustrate the impact of Italy's three great writers in Britain and the western world throughout history.'

The exhibition is one of the two major exhibitions that the Bodleian Library organises annually featuring distinctive items from its world-renowned collections. The Italy's Three Crowns exhibition will be open until 31 October 2007, Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm and Saturday 9 am to 4.30 pm in the Exhibition Room, Old Schools Quadrangle, Broad Street, Oxford. Admission is free.