| Summary: | Within the complex continuum of petrarchan miniature, a real unicum is represented by the volume which is preserved in Brescia (Biblioteca Queriniana, Inc. G.V. 15). The print, which is an exemplar of the princeps of Poet’s vernacular work – published in Venice in 1470 –, is the only Canzoniere within which fragmenta are entirely illustrated. The incunable has been decorated by a man of letters at the end of the XV century, whom some scholars identify with Antonio Grifo and the others cagily call the “Dilettante Queriniano”. Until now, this particular copy has been studied almost only in its philological aspects, or in its historical-artistic ones. However, it is equally worth considering it in the context of the encounter of poetry and imagery. The analysis of the relationship between the text and the images that adorn the pages actually discloses that the paintings are not confined to a purely ornamental role, but are indeed vehicles of their author’s exegesis.
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