Playing among white Vines: The Rosenberg Book of Hours

Florence, Italy, 1450-1455

A most unusual and beautifully decorated book of hours in humanistic script and with a fascinating pictorial programme, created by a group of illuminators around two of the most respected artists of the Florentine Renaissance: Francesco d'Antonio del Chierico and Zanobi Strozzi.

280'000,- CHF (VAT not included)

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Illuminated manuscript on vellum.
2 full-page miniatures, the first with a frame of gilt and liquid gold, the second with a full border of acanthus and putti bearing an open book. 5 historiated initials with full inhabited white-vine borders incorporating vignettes, birds, animals and putti 16 pages with large (four- to seven-line) decorative white-vine initials with full white-vine borders featuring birds and putti.

122 x 87 mm; 232 (of 252?) leaves, textually complete, probably lacking several leaves with miniatures.

of 257

Among the humanist white vine decoration, a host of charming creatures hide and play alongside jocund putti

Overview

This is an unusual Book of Hours of very high quality and originally featured 22 full-page miniatures – unusually rich for an Italian Book of Hours, which normally contain only three to four decorated pages for the most important texts. Remarkable for a private book of devotion is also the use of humanist script and delicate white vine initials and borders in a style called bianchi girari. Both of these elements, typically characterise literary, philosophical, or classical texts.

The manuscript has a wonderful format which fits comfortably into the palms of one’s hands. Its elegantly written pages are often surrounded by full borders which invite the reader to marvel at the opening before them. The manuscript’s elegant borders are inhabited by jocund and cheeky putti as well as a wide variety of charming creatures, including identifiable birds, leopards, hunting dogs, hares, donkeys, butterflies, and stags. The elegance and airy nature of the humanist borders contrasts enticingly with the light hearted and unencumbered attitude of the putti and animals which hide, dance, and make music within the white vines. Each pages unravels new and enchanting details upon closer inspection.

The two full-page miniatures that remain are by two important masters, who probably shared the work. The frontispiece with the astrologers shows characteristics of Francesco d’Antonio del Chierico (1433-1484), one of the most important Florentine illuminators of his time. He worked for the Medici, the Montefeltro, the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, and other equally important patrons. Some of his larger projects, he carried out together with the considerably older artist Zanobi Strozzi (1412-1468), whose style can be found in the second full-page miniature with the Coronation of the Virgin Mary (f. 67v).

One striking feature of our manuscript is certainly the presence of a frontispiece. This is quite unusual for a Book of Hours. It is a feature more commonly found in large literary and historical manuscripts, such as chronicles, where the frontispiece often depicts a dedication scene or similar. The scene here shows an enthroned astronomer with a compass and an armillary sphere, both implements rendered in gold. He presides over a group of six other scholars, probably also astrologers, for they too hold up gilded measuring instruments.

With its fascinating pictorial programme and unusual humanist decoration, this Book of Hours is a brilliant example of the high quality of work created by Chierico and Strozzi for some of the most distinguished patrons of the Florentine Renaissance.

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