ROSSELLI, Francesco
(b. 1445, Firenze, d. before 1513, Firenze)

Book of Hours of Lorenzo de' Medici

1485
Manuscript (Clm 23639), 170 x 108 mm
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich

This lavishly decorated prayer book is a Book of Hours according to the use of Rome. It contains prayers and devotional texts for the private use and edification of the laity. The book was a wedding present from Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) to his eldest daughter Lucrezia, and Jacopo Salviati.

The illuminations, including 10 full-page and 12 small calendar miniatures, are the work of Francesco Rosselli, younger brother of the Florentine painter Cosimo Rosselli. The principal miniatures comply with the highest standard of contemporary Renaissance painting, both in their overall composition and the execution of details. He combined the miniatures and the borders in such harmonious manner that no discontinuity is visible, allowing each of the pages to appear as a coherent, organic whole.

A characteristic example is shown on the double page (folios 13v and 14r) which precedes a prayer in the Hours of the Virgin. On the left the Annunciation is depicted, while on the right-hand side the half-length figure of the Virgin and Child appears in a large-scale initial "D".