U. COMMINELLI / F. DEL CHIERICO - BIBLE FROM FEDERICO DA MONTEFELTRO (FACSIMILE) - 2005

Subject: Facsimiles. Manuscripts. Bible from the Federico de Montefeltro Library - Ugo Comminelli de Mézières (writer) and Francesco di Antonio del Chierico (miniaturist).

Publication: Rome, Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, 2005.

Description: Two volumes (63 x 47 x 10 cm). Volume I: 216 pages, 82 black and white illustrations. Volume II: 208 pages, 41 black and white illustrations. 1108 pages. Original publisher's binding, bound in velvet with closures. Limited edition of 500 copies. 2 volumes of comments by Ambrogio M. Piazzoni, with contributions from Gino Benzoni, Luis Duval-Arnould, Giovanni Morello, Antonio Paolucci, Ambrogio M. Piazzoni, Jean-Louis Tauran and others.

Conservation: Good condition.

Other information about the work: The Bible by Federico da Montefeltro, the greatest exponent of the art of miniature, is presented as the bibliographical work in which the figurative culture of the 15th century in Italy and Europe reaches the climax of its career. This colossal work was carried out when the printing press with mobile characters was already in a phase of full consolidation. This Bible differs from the usual typology of the miniated codex, both for its imposing dimensions and for the number of pages, thirty-five of which are illustrated with miniatures that are presented as authentic pictorial works.

The geniuses of miniature: The Bible, destined to become the most beautiful codex in the library of Federico da Montefeltro, was written by Ugo Comminelli da Mézières and decorated in Florence in the short period of two years (1477-1478) by Francesco di Antonio del Chierico, a miniaturist who was then at the peak of fame, magnanimously “lent” to the Duke of Urbino by Lorenzo de' Medici himself. Along with Francesco there are other illustrious names in the history of miniature such as Attavante degli Attavanti, Francesco Rosselli and in all probability also Davide Ghirlandaio, brother of the better known Domenico Ghirlandaio. Through the hand of these artists, the rich figurative heritage of the 15th century in Florentine is condensed in the miniatures of the Bible. When taking a tour of the illustrations, it is not difficult to perceive in them the echoes of the most prominent protagonists of the Tuscan Renaissance.

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