Book of Hours for the Use of Rome

This manuscript is one of the most pleasing books of hours to have been made in Florence in the mid-fifteenth century. It contains 278 folios with 17 illuminations by Zanobi Strozzi, which are masterpieces of the genre.

The picture shows folios 169v-170r. The most original illumination in the book is the full page (folio 169v) with the young David at the beginning of the penitential psalms. Sling and machete in one hand and the severed head of the Philistine Goliath in the other, he stands triumphant on top of the giant’s armoured body. The more traditional illustration for this section of the book of hours, which shows the contrite and elderly David praying in the wilderness, is included in the initial D on the opposite page. The triumphant young David is typically Florentine image, Florentines of the period related him to their republican self-image.