PACINO DI BONAGUIDA

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

This illumination represents Christ in Majesty with the Twelve Apostles. It may have been set at the beginning of the laudario, heading a hymn to Christ.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

On this leaf the miniature in an initial A depicts the Calling of St Andrew, following the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Mark. It belonged to the hymn for the feast of St Andrew on November 30.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

The large rectangular miniature depicts St Agnes Enthroned and Scenes from Her legend. Three additional figurative scenes appear in oculi along the lower margin of the leaf. The leaf belonged to the hymn for St Agnes whose feast is celebrated on January 21.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

The large rectangular miniature depicts the Resurrection and the Three Marys at the Tomb. The margins of the leaf are filled with eight oculi depicting the appearances of Christ to Mary Magdalen and to his apostles after the Resurrection. The hymn of praise “Colla madre del be[ato] is spelled out in gilt capitals across the bottom.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

The rectangular miniature depicts the Ascension. In the margins at the left and right stand two angels playing the psaltery and lute. While the depiction of Christ is ultimately Byzantine in origin, the disposition of the figures against the landscape shows Pacino’s awareness of the innovations of Giotto. The leaf is striking for its use of brilliant colour contrasts silhouetted against gold and especially for the presence of Pacino’s distinctive yellow. At the bottom appear the opening words of the hymn: “Laudamo la resurrec[tione]” (Let us praise the Resurrection).

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

The most monumental of Pacino’s illuminations for the laudario depicts the Apparition of St Michael, based on the account found in the Book of the Apocalypse. St Michael, dressed in heavenly armour and accompanied by two other archangels, plunges his lance into the devil’s throat. The devil’s hellish companions cluster below around his snake-like form.

The hymn of praise to St Michael, “Exultando in Gesu” (Rejoicing in Christ), is spelled out in gilt capitals across the bottom of the leaf.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

This leaf is dominated by the figure of Christ in Majesty framed within a circle and attended by angels holding liturgical implements and playing musical instruments. In oculi at the corners are representations of the Trinity. In an oculus at the centre of the lower margin is the profile figure of a layperson in prayer, apparently a member of the Compagnia di Sant’Agnese, for which the laudario was made. He gazes up toward the opening words of the hymn, “Alta trinita beata” (Highest blessed Trinity), which begins with a decorated letter A and continues in gilt capitals.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

This cutting from a leaf depicts the Martyrdom of Sts Peter and Paul.

Dispersed today among a number of collections are nearly two dozen leaves and cuttings from a single laudario, or book of hymns to be sung in Italian by the members of a lay confraternity. This illustrated hymnal was one of the most ambitious and lavish manuscripts created in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century. All but five of the surviving illuminations from the laudario were painted by Pacino di Bonaguida, the most prolific manuscript painter in Florence in that period. The remaining leaves are by the Master of the Dominican Effigies.

The large miniature depicts the final moments of the martyrdom of the apostle Bartholomew.

The diptych in New York was one of the key works for the reconstruction of the artistic personality of Pacino di Bonaguida. It incorporates all of the elements of Pacino’s emblematic approach to narrative.

The left wing of the diptych is divided into three scenes. The depicted scenes are St John on Patmos (upper left), Virgin and Child Enthroned with Sts Paul and Francis (upper right) and the Death of the Virgin (bottom). Although the perspective of the Virgin’s throne at the upper right is competently rendered by early fourteenth-century standards, its purpose in establishing a believably naturalistic setting is countermanded by the impossible dichotomy of scale between the Virgin and the two saints and by the awkward placement of the latter, who hover or float at the edges of the platform.

This panel once formed part of a predella made up of seven scenes from the life of Saint Proculus for an altarpiece, in the titular church in Florence, which belonged to the Benedictines of Badia. The altarpiece was dismembered probably in 1622. Six predella panels survive and are dispersed in various collections.

Whereas the other scenes from the predella represent episodes from the saint’s life, the present work records a posthumous episode: reportedly forty days after his death, a child placed under St Proculus’s tomb was restored to life. Pacino depicts the moments before and after the child’s resurrection - we see him pictured both beneath the tomb and in front of it, alongside the figures united in supplication and gratitude.

The diptych in New York was one of the key works for the reconstruction of the artistic personality of Pacino di Bonaguida. It incorporates all of the elements of Pacino’s emblematic approach to narrative.

The right wing is occupied by one large scene only - the Crucifixion. In this scene each of the figures is portrayed on a modestly different scale, but only the larger size of Christ is hierarchically significant. Among the saints standing at the bottom of the composition, each figure’s size is determined by his or her posture without regard to the illusion of his or her placement in space or relationship to the others.

The thirty-eight miniatures of the codex (M. 643) in the The Morgan Library and Museum constitute the richest surviving manuscript painted by Pacino di Bonaguida. The codex contains no text and may have been made as a picture book. The illuminations begin with an image of King David, which is followed by a sequence of the Life of Christ, including thirty-three biblical and apocryphal scenes. After this series are four leaves illustrating the Life of Gerard of Villamagna (c. 1174-1245).

Fol. 22 of the codex shows the Ascent of the Cross.

The thirty-eight miniatures of the codex (M. 643) in the The Morgan Library and Museum constitute the richest surviving manuscript painted by Pacino di Bonaguida. The codex contains no text and may have been made as a picture book. The illuminations begin with an image of King David, which is followed by a sequence of the Life of Christ, including thirty-three biblical and apocryphal scenes. After this series are four leaves illustrating the Life of Gerard of Villamagna (c. 1174-1245).

According to the legend of Gerard of Villamagna, he grew up as an orphan in Villamagna. He participated as a page in the Third Crusade, during which he was captured. Later he made a second trip to the Holy Land, becoming a member of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The picture shows the fourth, final miniature of the series (Fol. 37), in which the body of Gerard is laid in the branches of an oak for the veneration of the faithful.

The thirty-eight miniatures of the codex (M. 643) in the The Morgan Library and Museum constitute the richest surviving manuscript painted by Pacino di Bonaguida. The codex contains no text and may have been made as a picture book. The illuminations begin with an image of King David, which is followed by a sequence of the Life of Christ, including thirty-three biblical and apocryphal scenes. After this series are four leaves illustrating the Life of Gerard of Villamagna (c. 1174-1245).

Fol. 9 of the codex shows the Baptism of Christ.

This triptych of unusual form (with lateral panels that are the same height and width as the centre panel) depicts the Lamentation, Crucifixion and Ascension. It is assumed that originally it was a pentaptych with two other (now missing) scenes, possibly the Agony in the Garden, Flagellation, or Via Crucis.