Book of hours of Lorenzo de 'Medici
The Book of Hours of Lorenzo the Magnificent is a selected example of Florentine book illumination , decorated in the style of Francesco di Antonio del Chierico, the preferred miniature painter of Lorenzo's grandfather Cosimo .
Liturgy of Rome . Calendarium - illustrations and nine large miniatures with decorative borders.
description
It is a small book (15.3 × 9 cm, 233ff). The miniatures are painted in a refined, delicate style that evokes the sweetness of Fra Angelico . They are framed by wide borders full of densely packed but clearly outlined ornamentation - flowers, leaves, fruits, stars, heads in medallions and tiny putti . The whole thing stands out from the white parchment pages with extraordinary liveliness. Despite some Renaissance accessories in the borders, such as candelabra , putti and pearls, the book has a Gothic character, because the religious feeling is not covered by the opulence of the decoration , as is usual with many Italian book illuminations from this time .
As in so many books of hours , the beginning of the little times of the day of the Marienoffizium , the Matutin , is marked by a particularly beautiful miniature. At the beginning, a scene of the Annunciation is shown, here in a typical Florentine frame with a view of a delightful landscape, from where the Archangel Gabriel came from, and the birth in the quatrefoil medallion below . On the opposite side Madonna and Child in the initial D, in the medallion below the Adoration of the Magi .
The Annunciation scene is flanked by two large candelabra, and above them flaming braziers. Opposite these have been replaced by medallions with prophets and the heads of other young people.
The theme of David repenting is remarkable because of the extraordinary landscape background. The old man, here with a halo , kneels before God and plays on his psaltery . In the initial D opposite he can be seen again. As a young man with a diadem and sitting on a throne . He sings the praises of God and ignores the prophet standing before him with the scroll.
Lorenzo il Magnifico
During his lifetime, one of the Medici was described as the embodiment of the Italian Renaissance in its particular Florentine appearance. This man was Lorenzo de 'Medici, posthumously he was referred to as "il Magnifico", which expressed more than personal pomp. It was what one might call its medieval legacy. He loved competitions and tournaments , very un-Florentine activities in which he took part with his younger brother Giuliano . He was both a Christian and a Neoplatonist . With its cosmopolitanism, the Renaissance always rested on the strong belief of the Gothic .
Francesco del Chierico
This famous book of hours was written and dated for Lorenzo by the scribe Antonio Sinibaldi in 1485. The miniatures and decorations are so typical in the style of Francesco del Chierico that the execution is usually attributed to him, but it is now known that he died a few months earlier on October 28, 1484. One of his students is probably the designer of this manuscript, which is considered a jewel of Florentine book illumination.
Del Chierico was active from 1454 to 1484 and was the leading Florentine illuminator of his time, in whose workshop a generation of illuminators grew up, which culminated in Francesco Rosselli, Attavante degli Attavanti and the brothers Gherardo and Monte del Fora in the last quarter of the 15th century.
Medici library
During this time Lorenzo il Magnifico supplemented the library founded by his grandfather, Cosimo the Elder, the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana , with books and manuscripts. When the Medici temporarily lost their power in 1494, just two years after the death of Lorenzo, there was for a time a considerable risk that the library would be dissolved or even destroyed by the followers of Savonarola .
It is unlikely that Lorenzo's Book of Hours was among the collection when the library was first opened in 1517. It had come to the Netherlands at some point where it was owned by the De Merode family in the 17th century . In the 19th century it was bought by the bibliographer and book thief Guglielmo Libri , whose library was subsequently bought by the fourth Earl of Ashburnham. After his death in 1878, the Italian government bought the Ashburnham Libri collection, and Lorenzo's magnificent book of hours returned to his homeland.
literature
- The Book of Hours by Lorenzo dei Medici, the Magnificent. In: John Harthan: Books of hours and their owners. German translation by Regine Klett. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1977, ISBN 3-451-17907-5 , pp. 138-141.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Oswald Spengler : Der Untergang des Abendlandes , 1918, p. 22.