Resumen de Una galleria di battaglie per Roberto d'Angiò: nuove riflessioni su l'"Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César" di Londra (British Library, Ms. Royal 20 D I)
This study investigates one of the most remarkable manuscript of the Old Royal Library, id. est ms. Royal 20 D I, now preserved in the British Library, from a point of view so far neglected by art critics: namely the presence, in exceptional number, of heraldic elements painted within the miniatures en bas de page that illustrate the Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César, and especially its narrative section of the History of Troy. The painted heroes of antiquity stand out from the written pages by means of their shields, banners and horse-trappings which are decorated with real-world heraldic devices, mostly flawlessly described. The target of the present survey has been to analyse and identify these true coats of arms as displayed in the narrative cycle of the Royal manuscript. The evidence of their ascription to the Angevin kingship and to the Neapolitan nobility of the early 14th century has led me to consider the underlying sense of the heroic characters and metaphorical reading. While not interfering with the narrtive of ancient history, the evidence declares explicity, through the visual media of painting, a conscious identification and legacy of modern protagonists with the ancient ones of the story.
