This paper examines a particular type of frontispiece - a depiction of angels showing a title tabula - that seems to have been in the decorative repertoire of Late Antique Gospel Books. The oldest surviving miniature presenting this composition is the title page of the Trier Gospels from eighth-century Echternach, which derives from a sixth-century prototype. A copy of this prototype was possibly made by the Registrum Master, which, by the end of the tenth century, was in contact with the scriptorium of Echternach. A Gospel Book from the diocese of Liège provides evidence of the existence of this supposed model; the decoration of the Liège example seems likely to have been copied in part from that model, which later also became a source of inspiration for the luxurious Gospel Books created at Echternach. The eleventh-century miniatures suggest that the decorative cycle of the Late Antique prototype may have included several angel pages. The type of frontispiece considered here appears also in some illustrated manuscripts of Beatus's Commentary on the Apocalypse, whose angel and Evangelist pages derive, however, from other Late Antique sources.
Late Antique and Early Medieval book illumination; Gospel Books; Beatus codices; Ottonian manuscripts; Echternach; Registrum Master; frontispieces
miniatura tardoantica e altomedievale; Evangeliari; codici di Beato; manoscritti ottoniani; Echternach; Maestro del Registrum; frontespizi
Queste pagine anticipano alcuni dei risultati emersi durante le ricerche per la tesi di dottorato sulla decorazione tardoantica del Libro dei Vangeli in ambito latino, tuttora in corso. Per il proficuo confronto e i generosi suggerimenti ringrazio Fabrizio Crivello.