Franco Bolognese

Profile

In Canto XI of the Purgatorio, Oderisi, a spirit encountered in the terrace of the proud, cites Franco Bolognese as an example of an excellent illuminator. The verse states that he «pennelleggia» with such mastery that the pages laugh, establishing a parallel with what Oderisi himself has just said about his own work as an illuminator. The commentary note on the passage specifies the technical meaning of «pennelleggia», indicating the use of the brush in the decoration of illuminated pages. Dante thus places Franco Bolognese in the group of artists cited by Oderisi to illustrate the transition from the archaic tradition to the new modern style, alongside figures such as Cimabue and Guido Guinizelli. The presence of his name in Oderisi's speech, and not in Dante's, indicates that Franco Bolognese is evoked as a term of artistic comparison, not as a direct interlocutor of the poet in the scene.