starting to post research...

I've got some research started...so I'll be posting it here from time to time to collect everything in one space...eventually I plan on writing a research paper compiling it all together.

The below information is from this source:


The Visconti Hours: A Reproduction of the Original in the National Library, Florence Published by George Braziller Inc. New York 1972

Title page of Visconti HoursThe art book of the present day is truly a wonder of modern reproductive technology. Contemporary techniques have become so advanced that art works can be vividly reproduced, at times with such clarity and veracity that it becomes difficult to tell the difference between the original and the copy. This facsimile, produced by one of the most advanced art-book publishers active today, is certainly an example.

The Visconti Hours is the second part of an exceptionally rich Book of Hours, illuminated by Giovannino dei Grassi and Belbello da Pavia. It was completed sometime around 1412, just a little more than 40 years before the introduction of printing. Giangaleazzo Visconti, the noble who commissioned this book, was one of the most powerful Italian princes of his day. His family ruled Milan for more than a century, and Giangaleazzo married no less a person than Isabelle, daughter of King John of France. Like other Italian Renaissance rulers, Giangaleazzo patronized learning and the arts. He took an interest in the University of Pavia, helping to build the library there. He was also a patron of the Lombard workshops that produced some of the most beautiful and unique illuminated manuscripts of the age.

This stunning and historically important work, which in its original state is fragile and must be protected from light, can be seen and studied by thousands anywhere in the world. In fact, because of the special conditions and handling necessary to view the original, it may actually be preferable for scholars to use facsimiles such as this one.

Note: Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to publish reproductions from this work.