The ‘Cronico del Re Giovannino’ in the Latin Barberini Fund of the Vatican Apostolic Library: Connections, Provenance and Reuses

The analysis of the art collecting events linked to the relationship between Francesco Barberini (1597-1679) and Joseph-Marie de Suarès (1599-1677) and relevant to the Cronico del re Giovannino (Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Barb. lat. 3958) is at the origin of an interdisciplinary study that has made important findings possible. By revealing the origin and reuse of this codex, backdated between the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, we established the ‘transmedia’ character of Barberini’s art collecting. This helped identify a new drawing that can be traced back to de Suarès’ initiative, and to restore the memory of a lost and typologically significant artwork: the Crucifix of Queen Clementia, which was originally kept in the Dominican convent in Avignon.