The Hours of Giraldi-Guicciardini: The rising of Lazarus; initial 'I' for Mass of the Dead: Death carrying a Scythe

Artist/Maker

DatesMade: Made 1500 - 1525

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 12,8 x 8,6 cm

Inventory numberNMB 1960

AcqusitionGift 1968 anonymous donor

Other titlesTitle (sv): Giraldi-Guicciardini-horariet: Jesus uppväcker Lazarus; I initialen till dödsmässan: Döden med lie (fol. 162-163) Title (en): The Hours of Giraldi-Guicciardini: The rising of Lazarus; initial 'I' for Mass of the Dead: Death carrying a Scythe Alternative title: Horae ad usum romanum

DescriptionDescription: NMB 1960 A Book of Hours illuminated by the Workshop of Attavante degli Attavanti. [Florence, 1500-1524] Catalogue raisonné: NMB 1960 A Book of Hours illuminated by the Workshop of Attavante degli Attavanti. [Florence, 1500-1524] Physical Description MATERIAL: Watercolour on Parchment. BINDING: Hollow spine red Morocco rebinding with modern marbled endpapers and red, blue and green embroidered double endbands. Gold tooling diamond pattern on the boards and profusely tooled spine. Leather minimally abraded in the corners and endcaps. Very good condition of the binding. There are five more fragments (fols. 14, 236, 244, 245 and 252) as another unit in a conservation card box. DIMENSIONS: 128 x 86 mm (pages)/135 x 100 x 54 mm (binding). NUMBER OF LEAVES: 271ff. RULING: 12 lines of text ruled in faint black. LANGUAGE: Latin. SCRIPT: Humanist book hand. RUBRICATION: Illuminated rubrics. Text Fol. 2-12: Calendar for the Use of Florence. Fol. 14-126: Hours of the Virgin Mary. Fol. 127-161: The penitential psalms with litany. Fol. 162-234: Office of the Dead. Fol. 235-253: Hours of the Cross. Fol. 251-270: Gradual psalms. Decoration The miniatures are surrounded with images of Roman coins, putti, prophets, and saints. Fol. 14v: The Annunciation with the family crest of the Giraldi family underneath. Fol. 15v: The Virgin Mary and Christ Child. Beginning of the Hours of the Virgin Mary. Fol. 65r: Initial D(eus) with an image of the Virgin Mary. Beginning of Terse in the Hours of the Virgin Mary. Fol. 90v: Initial C(onverte) with an image of the Virgin Mary. Beginning of Compline in the Hours of the Virgin Mary. Fol. 127v: The regret of David. Fol. 128r: King David with a cithara. Beginning of the penitential psalms. Fol. 162v: The Raising of Lazarus. Fol. 163r: Death holding a scythe. Beginning of the Office of the Dead. Fol. 235v: The Crucifixion. Fol. 236r: Christ as the Man of Sorrows. Beginning of the Hours of the Cross. Fol. 244v: Pentecost. Fol. 245r: The Holy Spirit as a dove. Beginning of the Hours of the Holy Spirit. Fol. 251v: The Virgin Mary entering the Temple. Fol. 252r: Initial A(d Dominum) with Virgin Mary in the Temple. Beginning of the penitential psalms. Provenance 1. Made in Florence, in the first quarter of the 16th century in the workshop of Attavante degli Attavanti. 2. A gift for the marriage of members of the Giraldi and Guicciardini families in 1535. 2. Sold by Martin Breslauer Martin Breslauer, Inc., New York to Conte Paolo Guicciardini (1880-1955). 3. On Conte Paolo Guicciardini’s death it returned to sale at Martin Breslauer, Inc., New York. 3. Chester Beatty (Western Ms 92). 4. Sotheby & Co; Bought from Alan G. Thomas in 1968. Exhibited 1. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter, December 1987-March 1988. Commentary Attavante degli Attavanti (1452-1525) was a Florentine whose workshop illuminated some of the finest manuscripts in Florence around the turn of the 16th century. NMB 1960 is a good example of the Humanistic influenced manuscripts of this time. The manuscript was made for the marriage between Argentina di Jacopo di Piero Guicciardini and Giovanni di Niccolò Giraldi in 1535. As this was a decade after the death of Attavante, Nordenfalk (1979) believes that the manuscript was a stock production to which the owner’s coats of arms would be added at a later date. Bibliography Abel, Ulf, and Nils Göran Hökby (eds.), Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1987), no. 80, pp. 69-70. Alexander, Jonathan J. G., The Painted Book in Renaissance Italy: 1450-1600 (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2016), p. 1, no. 101. Nordenfalk, Carl, Bokmålningar från medeltid och renässans i Nationalmusei samlingar (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1979), no. 39, pp. 136-140. Thirty-seven Manuscripts of the IX. to the XVI. century: The Chester Beatty Western Manuscripts I, Sotheby, Sale Catalogue, 3rd of December, no 34, (1968), pp. 98-100 Sandgren, Eva Lindqvist, Illuminated Manuscripts in Swedish Collections, https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/resultList.jsf?dswid=7830&p=1&searchType=EXTENDED&sortString=creationYear_sort_asc&noOfRows=10&af=%5B%22ARCHIVE_ORG_ID_facet%3A67%22%5D&query=&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22HOST%22%3A%22alvin-record%3A471052%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D Willis, Howell, Florentine Heraldry (London: 1900), p. 143. Research project 2022-2023, Illuminated Manuscript, Christian Etheridge, Art Historian

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialParchment