The magnificent Burke collection of Italian manuscript paintings has been built over twenty years, and includes works by many of the greatest artists of the Italian medieval and Renaissance periods. Most of the works in the core of the collection range from the late 13th century into the 16th century. In the microcosm of this collection, we can see the emergence of artistic ideas that mark a cultural shift that would spread across Europe.
 
The Burke collection, currently on deposit in the Stanford Libraries of Stanford University in California, is characterized by the very high quality of the works produced by the most renowned Italian illuminators, who are often also documented as painters. Highlights of these masterpieces include the Crucifixion of the Master of San Francesco of Assisi, as well as miniatures of the Tuscan school, which are exceptionally well represented, and comprise outstanding artists such as Pacino di Buonaguida, Don Simone Camaldolese, Lorenzo Monaco, Fra Angelico, Giovanni di Paolo, Sano di Pietro and Lippo Vanni. The collection equally underlines the range of styles achieved by the Italian illuminators: works by interpreters of Giotto’s magisterium and practitioners of neo-Giottism of the Po Valley, such as Neri da Rimini, Tommaso da Modena and Nicolò di Giacomo; masters of the Venetian school such as Cristoforo Cortese or the dai Libri family of Verona; and, in the Lombard school, some of the most famous interpreters of late Gothic painting such as the Olivetan Master, Decio, and the Master B.F.
 
Edited by Sandra Hindman (Professor Emerita of Art History at Northwestern University and Owner of Les Enluminures) and Federica Toniolo (Professor of History of Illuminated Manuscripts and Medieval Art, University of Padua), with an introduction by Christopher de Hamel, this catalogue presents essays written by an international team of authors from England, Italy, Switzerland and the United States, each a specialist in their fields.