A Book of Hours Illuminated by Leonardo da Besozzo for Alfonso the Magnanimous (Vienna, O¨sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 1886)

Gennaro Toscano
A precious Book of Hours, kept at the O¨sterreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna and so far neglected by the history of illumination studies, is a good example of the production of luxury codices anchored to the tradition of the late Gothic taste at the court of Alfonso the Magnanimous, king of Naples from 1442 to 1458, a taste that cohabited with other trends in fashion in the capital of the kingdom. A more careful analysis of the style of the illuminations of the codex allowed to hypothesize a direct commission of the sovereign and to attribute a good part of the execution of the scenes to Leonardo da Besozzo, painter and illuminator of Lombard origin active in Naples since the third decade of the fifteenth century. Passed to his son Ferrante after the death of the Magnanimous (1458), it is likely that the Book of Hours arrived at the Savoy's collections on the occasion of the wedding between Anna of Savoy and Prince Federico of Aragon celebrated on September 11, 1478. Federico of Aragon (1451-1504) was the third of Ferrante's six sons, while Anna of Savoy (1455-1480) was the daughter of Duke Amedeo IX and Iolanda of France, and therefore sister of Duke Charles I (1468-1490). Thanks to the support of his uncle Louis XI, king of France, Charles had been recognized as the new duke of Savoy at the death of his brother Filiberto I, which occurred in 1482, and at only 17 years, in 1485, he married Bianca of Monferrato. On that occasion, the very young duke ordered to illuminate the bipartite Savoia-Monferrato coat of arms on the title page of the codex that had already belonged to Alfonso the Magnanimous.

Index

Lucinia Speciale The Christian Muse. Mark's Portrait in the Rossano Gospels
vai all'articolo » pag. 17-21
Teresa D’Urso Cava and the Mediterranean. Some Manuscripts from the Norman-Swabian Period
vai all'articolo » pag. 22-28
Fabrizio Crivello A Glossed Psalter in Late Geometrical Style in Mainz
vai all'articolo » pag. 29-32
Silvia Maddalo Histories on the Margins. Notes on the Manfred Bible in Turin
vai all'articolo » pag. 33-37
Federica Volpera Schlatt, Eisenbibliothek, MS 20: A New Acquisition to Late Thirteenth-Century Genoese Manuscript Production
vai all'articolo » pag. 38-52
Laura Pasquini Henry VII and the Figurative Representation of Royalty: The Manuscript Sources
vai all'articolo » pag. 53-67
Giordana Mariani Canova Ildebrandino Conti's Missal and Its Illuminators: The Maestro Avignonese and the Maestro del Codice di san Giorgio
vai all'articolo » pag. 68-73
Marco Rossi A Figurative Addition to Giovanni Visconti's Milan: The Chronica urbis lat. 4946
vai all'articolo » pag. 74-77
Antonella Cattaneo The Illustrative Apparatus of Huon d'Auvergne in Berlin
vai all'articolo » pag. 78-88
Massimo Medica Cicero at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid: An Illuminated Manuscript from the Visconti's Court Still to Be Studied
vai all'articolo » pag. 89-96
Giuliana Algeri Remarks on the “Bodmer Prayer Book” by Michelino da Besozzo
vai all'articolo » pag. 97-105
Gennaro Toscano A Book of Hours Illuminated by Leonardo da Besozzo for Alfonso the Magnanimous (Vienna, O¨sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 1886)
vai all'articolo » pag. 106-113
Giovanna Saroni Unpublished Fragments of a Savoyard Book of Hours
vai all'articolo » pag. 114-122
Federica Toniolo Illuminated Incunabula by the Urbinate and Ferrarese Workshop of Federico da Montefeltro
vai all'articolo » pag. 123-131
Lilian Armstrong Roberto Valturio, De re militari, 1472. A Note on the Hand-illuminated Copy in Houghton Library of Harvard University
vai all'articolo » pag. 132-135
Anca Delia Moldovan Astrology and Agriculture in the Calendar of the Offiziolo of Charles VIII (Fondazione Giorgio Cini, inv. 2502/4)
vai all'articolo » pag. 136-148
Giuseppa Z. Zanichelli The Master of the Breviary of San Giovanni Evangelista
vai all'articolo » pag. 149-152
Elena De Laurentiis The Choir Books in the Centro Studi Francescani per la Liguria. Some New Illuminations by Michele da Genova
vai all'articolo » pag. 153-163
Elli Doulkaridou Ramantani Two Illuminated Statuti from the Archive of San Giovanni Decollato in Rome
vai all'articolo » pag. 164-172
Antonio Iacobini, Giulia Orofino, Xavier Barral i Altet Opus Romanum. Un nuovo libro sulla miniatura a Roma nel Duecento
vai all'articolo » pag. 173-186