219 folios, preceded and followed by three paper flyleaves, missing at least five leaves perhaps with miniatures (collation i¹⁴ ii-ix¹⁰ x⁶ xi² [gap in text between quires x and xi suggests that at least one outer bifolium may be missing here with loss of text on at least one page] xii¹⁰ [-1; loss of text] xiii-xvi¹⁰ xvii⁶ [-6; loss of text] xviii¹⁰ [-1; loss of text] xix-xx¹⁰ xxi⁸ xxii-xxiii¹⁰ xxiv⁶), horizontal catchwords at the ends of quires ii-ix, xii-xvi, xviii-xx, and xxii-xiii, ruled in pale brown ink, on 18 lines, in quire i (justification 59 x 56 mm.) and, on 14 lines, in quires ii-xxiv (justification 66 x 46 mm.), written in a rounded Italian Gothic bookhand in brown ink, capitals touched faintly in yellow, rubrics in red, 1-line paraphs in blue, 1-line initials in red and blue, 2- to 3-line initials in red and blue with contrasting penwork, 3- to 4-line initials in blue with contrasting red penwork in calendar, 4-line initial in blue with contrasting red penwork (f. 15v), fourteen decorated 4- to 5-line initials in pale pink, blue, pale purple, or orange on burnished golden grounds with foliate in-filling and acanthus extensions in blue, green, red, pale pink, and orange, often terminating in sprays of burnished gold disks on fine hairline stems (ff. 26v, 53, 58v, 64, 69, 74, 83, 167v, 172, 175, 177v, 180, 183, 187), with birds adorning two (ff. 69, 180) and a butterfly adorning another (f. 175), three (of probably five or six) 4- to 11-line historiated initials in blue or pale pink on burnished golden grounds with foliate decoration in burnished gold, blue, green, red, pale pink, and pale purple extending into full borders of acanthus, with sprays of flowers and burnished gold disks and with birds and butterflies populating the borders in two of the three, some cropping of these borders along the upper and outer edges, very slight rubbing or staining on a few pages, but otherwise in very fine condition. Bound in sixteenth- or seventeenth-century(? ) parchment over pasteboard with three raised bands, with inscription, “Officio de la Maria” written on the spine in dark brown ink along with a possible shelfmark “15[?],”traces of two fore-edge attachments on the upper and lower boards, some staining to the lower board.  Dimensions 119 x 78 mm.

PROVENANCE

1. The prominence of important Florentine feast days in the calendar and the style of illumination throughout indicate that this manuscript was produced in Florence, likely around the middle of the fifteenth century. The contents of the calendar further suggest that this book was intended for Vallombrosan use. The founder of the Vallombrosan order, John Gualbert, appears in red in the calendar and another Vallombrosan saint, Bernard degli Uberti, has also been included. There were a number of Vallombrosan houses in and around Florence, including Vallombrosa, the mother house of the order. The prayer “pro fratribus nostris absentibus” in the litany (f. 216) may indicate that this book was commissioned for the use of a Vallombrosan monk. There is evidence that several prominent illuminators executed work for the Vallombrosans of Florence around this time – the Vallombrosan house of San Pancrazio, for example, commissioned Zanobi Strozzi, along with Filippo di Mateo Torelli, to illuminate a missal for the monastery around 1456-57 (Palladino, 2005, pp. 261-62) – and one of the latest known illuminating projects undertaken by Battista di Niccolò da Padova was an illuminated Psalter for Vallombrosa (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Conv. Soppr. 512).

2. There are several entries in sixteenth-century? hands on f. 1. The first has been deliberately and almost completely effaced: “Istut [sic] officinis[?] est d[…] d[…].”  Two other inscriptions may identify possible users of the book: “Amen ego andreæ paulo antoni[…?] santa so[…?]” and “Rufi Antoni […].”

3. A seventeenth-century(?) note on the verso of the final paper flyleaf may identify one of the book’s later readers or owners: “Rivisto per il padre don Antonio caracciolo.”  This may refer to Antonio Caracciolo, a seventeenth-century Italian scholar of religious history and member of the Order of Clerics Regular (founded in 1524).

TEXT

ff. 2-13v, Calendar with entries including the Purification of the Virgin (2 February, in red), Pancras (12 May), Zenobius (25 May, in red), the vigil and feast of John the Baptist (23-24 June, in red), John Gualbert (12 July, in red), “Sancte Marie ad nives” (5 August, in red), Salvius (10 September), and Bernard degli Uberti (4 December);

f. 14, blank;

ff. 15-100v, Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, with Matins (f. 15), Lauds (f. 26v), Prime (f. 53), Terce (f. 58v), Sext (f. 60), None (f. 69), Vespers (f. 74), and Compline (f. 83), with additional devotions including the Salve regina (ff. 88v-89v) and variants for the liturgical year (ff. 89v-100v);

f. 100v, Salve regina (lacking end);

f. 101, Hours of the Holy Spirit (lacking opening);

ff. 101-102v, Verses of St. Bernard, rubric, followed by verses (f. 101v);

ff. 103-156v, Office of the Dead, use of Rome (lacking opening);

ff. 157-189v, Hours of the Cross (lacking opening);

ff. 190-193v, Short Hours of the Cross;

ff. 194-208, Penitential Psalms;

ff. 208v-219v, Litany.

ILLUSTRATION

The delicate and brightly hued illuminations within this lovely and well-preserved Book of Hours exemplify the beauty of Florentine illumination around the middle of the fifteenth century. In addition to the historiated initials (see below) and their full borders, fourteen decorated initials have been executed in the same style, painted in blue and pale pink (and, less often, orange and pale purple) and adorned with delicate penwork, all on burnished golden grounds. As in the three full borders accompanying the historiated initials, pale pink and purple flowers and sprays of burnished golden disks emerge from acanthus extensions painted chiefly in vibrant greens and blues and reds, and similarly tinted birds and butterflies perch among the foliage.

Historiated initials:

f. 15, Virgin and Child, the Virgin shown half-length holding the Child upright;

f. 190, Crucifix, in burnished gold, empty atop a hill of burnished gold;

f. 194, King David with harp.

The cycle of historiated initials present within this attractive manuscript is common within Italian Books of Hours of the period, and it is probable that similar initials once graced the openings of the Office of the Dead and Hours of the Cross, at the very least.  David is more typically portrayed in this context kneeling in prayer in the wilderness. Though their handling of facial features is dissimilar, this artist’s positioning of David with his harp bears a marked resemblance to David’s depiction, also within a historiated initial, within a roughly contemporary Florentine Book of Hours, sold on this site, most probably executed by Bartolomeo Varnucci (documented between 1410 and 1479) and his workshop (Books of Hours: a Medieval “Bestseller,” Paris, Les Enluminures, 2008, no. 6).

The Virgin and King David are shown half-length from the front, with their heads and gazes directed slightly to one side, against blue backgrounds from which the figures and their halos have been set off with faint outlines in a slightly darker color.  Both have long blond hair and the artist has used a pale brown contour line to set their hair off from the gold of their halos. Their features are similarly delineated with slight dark strokes setting off their eyes, lips, and noses.

The illuminator of this Book of Hours follows in the tradition of such outstanding Florentine manuscript illuminators as Zanobi Strozzi and Fra Angelico, though the work is closer in quality to that produced by the artists who collaborated on the illumination of four large Choir Books (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Edili 148-151) for Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence. This illuminator’s work shows the influence of Battista di Niccolò da Padova (active in Florence from 1438 until his death in 1452) and the so-called Maestro della Trinità Edili 150 (possibly identifiable with Benedetto di Silvestro, active between 1445 and 1473), both artists involved in this massive undertaking (our thanks to Gaudenz Freuler for this attribution). It is possible that this illuminator also participated in the adornment of these four spectacular volumes, executed between 1445 and 1477/78.

LITERATURE

Dillon Bussi, Angela. “Battista di Niccolò da Padova e Giovanni Varnucci: lo scambio della parti? (e alcune note su Ricciardo di Nanni),” Rivista di storia della miniatura 3 (1998), pp. 105-14.

Dillon Bussi, Angela. “La miniatura quattrocentesca per il Duomo di Firenze: prime indagini e alcune novità,” in  I libri del Duomo di Firenze: Codici liturgici e Biblioteca di Santa Maria del Fiore (secoli XI-XVI), eds. Lorenzo Fabbri and Marica Tacconi, Florence, Centro Di, 1997, pp. 79-96.

Kanter, Laurence B. and Pia Palladino.  Fra Angelico, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005; see especially Palladino, “Catalogue 49: St. John Gualbert in Glory …”, pp. 261-62.

Levi D’Ancona, Mirella. Miniatura e miniatori a Firenze dal xiv al xvi secolo: documenti per la storia della miniatura, Florence, Leo S. Olschki, 1962.

Tacconi, Marica. Cathedral and Civic Ritual in Late Medieval and Renaissance Florence: The Service Books of Santa Maria del Fiore, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Levi D’Ancona, Mirella. “Battista di Niccolò da Padova,” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 7, 1970
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/battista-di-niccolo-da-padova_%28Dizionario_Biografico%29/

BOH 108