| IL Messale del Beato Angelico The only volume in which extensive work can safely be attributed to Fra Angelico |
Florence, Museo di San Marco, MS 558
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| | Glorification of St. Dominic, fol. 67v Il Messale del Beato Angelico (The San Domenico Missal), preserved in the Dominican Monastery of San Marco in Florence, is an early 15th-c. Missal embellished by a selection of works by Fra Angelico and other masters of the Florentine milieu. This is the only volume in which extensive work can safely be attributed to Fra Angelico (c.1387-1466), whose frescos adorn the same walls of the convent of San Marco. In regard to provenance there are many reasons to think that the MS came out of the church of San Domenico di Fiesoli where the painter was active. It is certain that it belongs to a young period, the third decade of the Quattrocento, a period that coincides with Fra Angelico’s constant presence at the convent. This fine bibliophile edition reproduces 51 illuminated panels in full size and full color, with gold decorations. An excellent commentary, edited by Magnolia Scudieri, is provided by Maria Grazia Ciardi Dupré Dal Poggetto (history of 15th-c. Florentine miniatures), Sara Giacomelli (codicological analysis), and Maria Paola Masini (miniature technique). The volume represents a just tribute to one of the greatest artists of Florence. Limited edition of 600 copies printed on special paper produced by the Fedrigoni papermill of Verona, bound in tooled leather with brass bosses and a center rosette, after the binding of Ms. 515 in the same collection, which, for typology and chronology, is closest to the original. | |
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| Il Messale del Beato Angelico Florence: Vallecchi, 2005 43 x 59 cm, 203 pp, 40 plates (Fra Angelico); 11 plates (Zanobi Strozzi), plus 45 smaller format illustrations. ISBN 88-8427-022-7 Publisher's price: €6900 Please Inquire for Special OMI offer | 
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