Holy Scripture and its Bearers in the Image of the Italian Renaissance

In his dissertation, “Holy Scripture and its Bearers in the Image of the Italian Renaissance,” Gregor Meinecke examines the sacred art of the early Renaissance in central and northern Italy focusing on the depiction of script and pseudoscript bearers—those elements in paintings that carry written language or resemble it.

The function of script depends on many factors, such as its legibility, perceived materiality, composition of the painting, and viewing conditions. For example, when Carlo Crivelli signed his name in the ground next to a saint's pseudo-inscribed book, he created a deliberate contrast between the two script bearers, but he also contrasted his signature on the ephemeral earth within the painting with the enduring panel that still bears his name today.

The research explores how the writing interacts not only with the figures and the painted space, but also with the viewer. The process of reading these inscriptions depends heavily on the viewing conditions and the viewer's education. Meinecke thus investigates reception through the lens of viewing as a process that oscillates between reading and deciphering.

His dissertation consists of several case studies organized according to the legibility of the inscriptions:

- The immediately readable Latin script in the books of Filippino Lippi
- The difficult but precisely painted Hebrew in the works of Sandro Botticelli and Giovanni Bellini, which reinforces the Veritas Hebraica in humanistic discourses.
- The (pseudo) Hebrew in Andrea Mantegna's paintings, implying anti-Jewish sentiment and the inversion of heresy.
- Carlo Crivelli's personal pseudo-script
- the hems of saints' robes in the works of Filippo Lippi 
- the inscribed halos of Bergognone.

His dissertation also includes a catalog of all the works mentioned, as well as other works by a wide range of artists from the central and northern Italian Renaissance.