Dorothea Broccardi Explained

Dorothea Broccardi was a fifteenth-century Clarissine nun, copyist, and limner.

Biography

Broccardi was a nun of the Poor Clare order in San Lino, Volterra.^[1] Like many members of her community, she worked as a scribe, copyist, and limner. According to historian Marilyn Dunn, "Her miniatures emphasize iconography over artistic aesthetics, presenting saintly models for the nuns."^[2]

She collaborated closely with Marianus of Florence.^[3] As his amanuensis, she copied his works, chose their titles, and illustrated them in watercolor. Works copied and illuminated by Broccardi, identifiable by her Latin: Dorothea scripsit signature, include:

• Italian: Libro dell’Ordine di Santa Chiara^[4]
• Italian: Libro delle degnità (MS Volterra, Biblioteca Guarnacchi 6146)
• Italian: Vita di San Francesco (MS Volterra, Biblioteca Guarnacchi 5966)
• Italian: Via spirituale (MS Volterra, Biblioteca Guarnacchi 6359)
• Italian: Vita del beato Giovanni di Capestrano (MS Volterra, Biblioteca Guarnacchi 6147)

Notes and References

1. Book: Knox . L. S. . Creating Clare of Assisi . 1 January 2008 . Brill . 978-90-474-4306-3 . 146–217 . 6 January 2024 . en.
2. Book: Dunn . Marilyn . The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe . 2013 . Routledge . 978-1-315-61376-5 . 6 January 2024 . Convent Creativity. 10.4324/9781315613765-5/convent-creativity-marilyn-dunn . 2 November 2024 .
3. Book: Roest . Bert . Order and Disorder: The Poor Clares between Foundation and Reform . 1 January 2013 . Brill . 978-90-04-24475-7 . 283–345 . 6 January 2024 . en . Forms of Literary and Artistic Expression.
4. de Miranda . Walter Luiz Lopes . Mulheres pintoras através dos tempos: Pré-História até Idade Média. . Khronos . 2020 . 10 . 1–27 . 6 January 2024 . it.