The Paper Parnassus

Bartolomeo Ammannati’s drawing notebook 
Ed. rara 120

As early as 1920, Enrico Rostagno attributed to Bartolomeo Ammannati these folios, which had always belonged to the Riccardi family. Without following any precise chronological order, someone put them together in the course of the XIX century. The drawings may be part of the section on theory in the volume (now at the Uffizi) known as The Ideal City.

Dating from 1545 to 1570, these 114 folios are covered with drawings, sketches, and notes that address subjects as diverse as math, geometry, architecture, studies on fortresses, and measurement systems. As a whole, they may serve as preparatory material for a full-fledged treatise. In addition to architecture drawing (based on recognizable buildings, such as Vasari’s Uffizi Palace) this collection includes preliminary sketches of various objects, decorations, and statues that the author planned to make.     

This digital facsimile has been realized in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale del Bargello.

Piero della Francesca’s Archimedes
Archimedes, Treatises (MS. Ricc. 106)

Professor James Banker’s studies have confirmed that Piero della Francesca transcribed this manuscript collecting many of Archimedes’ works. To reach these conclusions, Professor Banker carefully compared MS. Ricc. 106 with other manuscripts that are known to be in Piero’s hand, such as – here in Florence – the Trattato d’abaco preserved in MS Ashb. 359 of the Biblioteca Laurenziana. This codex (which has always been property of the Riccardi family) sheds further light on Piero as a scholar by revealing his precise knowledge of math and the notions that support his studies on perspective. Evidence of the latter can also be found in about 200 drawings (some of which are remarkably complex) that punctuate the margins of this codex, showing both graphic perfection and a most skillful hand. Piero’s drawings of spirals (one of the topics discussed by Archimedes) stand out as particularly beautiful.

This digital facsimile has been realized by Edizioni Grafica European Center of Fine Arts.

Frederick II’s book of psalms
Psalter (MS. Ricc. 323)

Around 1235/37 Frederick II commissioned this wonderful psalter for his third wife, Isabel of England. Usually ascribed to copyists from Acre, it was most likely produced by an artist who added a typically Italian sense of color and shape to a Byzantine background.

Against a German iconographic backdrop, the figure of Christ stands out in these miniatures. Thanks to its flexible, reoccurring features it almost serves as a signaling device to the reader . The opening miniature is at once particularly complex and meaningful. By summing up the whole Christmas liturgy (which alludes to Christ’s death and resurrection), it brings together both the Old and the New Testament.

A note in the manuscript reads: “Property of Sister Margaret Da Scorno, nun in the convent of St. Silvester.” Originally from Pisa, the Da Scorno family had many contacts with southern Italy, where they probably came in possession of this manuscript.

This digital facsimile has been realized by Vallecchi Casa Editrice Firenze.

The legends of St. Margaret and St. Agnes (Ricc. 453)

This manuscript consists of two distinct sections, which were probably joined in the early fourteenth century. Of these two stories, only the one recounting the martyrdom of Margaret of Antioch is illustrated. Its miniatures serve as a visual commentary on the text, highlighting the most important episodes on almost each page.

The codex was made in Bologna toward the end of the thirteenth century. Its 33 miniatures and their many classicizing features stand out as the richest illustration of this legend; certainly, a book like this was conceived for an aristocratic setting.

In this regard, the suggestive theory has been raised that the making of this codex may be connected with Blessed Margaret, daughter of Bela IV (king of Hungary). A Dominican nun, Margaret led a most pious life, eventually receiving the stigmata. At the time she could not be worshipped openly, as the Church had not canonized her as a saint yet. However, she could be venerated through the saint bearing her same name.  

This digital facsimile has been realized thanks to the support of Manageritalia Milano.

The Riccardiana Virgil manuscript, Works (Ricc. 492)

The Riccardiana Virgil manuscript
Virgil, Works (MS. Ricc. 492)

Known as “Virgilio Riccardiano” this manuscript bears a closing inscription by the famous scribe Niccolò Riccio (nicknamed “Spinoso”) who worked for Vespasiano da Bisticci and his workshop.

The 88 miniatures in the lower section of the folios (which have been attributed to Apollonio di Giovanni and his assistants) illustrate Aeneas’ travels. In them, one can easily detect allusions to Florentine artworks of the time, especially the Magi Chapel, which Benozzo Gozzoli painted in the Palazzo Medici in 1459.

References to the 1439 Council of Florence, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and contemporary chronicles are also obvious in the monuments and the Eastern clothes depicted in these illustrations. These miniatures thus serve as a visual narrative at once rich in innuendos as well as allegories and firmly rooted in the history of its own time.

Illuminations decorate the very first page of Virgil’s Bucolics and Georgics, whereas the Aeneid is only decorated until the end of Book 3. Illuminations on ff. 93-98 are only partially colored, whereas the ones on ff. 101-104 (showing men at work in some busy workshops) are only sketched.

This digital facsimile has been realized by Art Codex – Atelier del Codice Miniato.

Treatise on land fortresses
Giovan Battista Belluzzi, also known as Il Sanmarino (MS. Ricc. 2587)

In her book titled Il Sanmarino. Giovan Battista Belluzzi, architetto militare e trattatista (Florence: Olschki, 2007), Daniela Lamberini confirms the attribution of this treatise to Giovan Battista Belluzzi (1506-1554). Born in San Marino, Belluzzi was Cosimo I de’ Medici’s first military engineer. In the second volume of her book (pp. 393-449), Lamberini publishes Belluzzi’s treatise and comments on it extensively. The author signed the autograph copy now at the Biblioteca Riccardiana (MS. 2587, addressed to the Medici general Stefano Colonna) as “Bellucci”, thus using the Florentine form of his last name. In this work, Il Sanmarino (as he was nicknamed) discusses above all the first stage in the making of a fortress, that is, the “terraglio” (a foundation made of “earth”, “terra” in Italian, and wood), to which stones and bricks were added at a later stage (thus making it “incamiciato”, as the jargon of the time would say, as if it were covered with a shirt, Italian “camicia”). In his book, the very first of its kind, Belluzzi provides ten most helpful drawings to illustrate each phase in the making of these structures and all related instructions. The text ends with a description of the works made to the bastions and the city walls of Pistoia under Belluzzi’s supervision. These works were completed (both quickly and efficiently, within just a few months) in 1544.

This digital facsimile has been realized thanks to the support of Fondazione San Marino.