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.

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).