Laudario of the Compagnia di Sant'Agnese

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.