The Hours of Alfonso d'Este is a manuscript of Christian prayer services, psalms, biblical extracts, and prayers addressed to the Virgin and saints. It was created at the court of the duke of Ferrara, whose coat of arms figures prominently in many of the painted borders. The illumination dates from the period between 1504 and 1512 and boasts fourteen full-page miniatures by Matteo da Milano. These illustrate episodes from the infancy of Christ and other Christian themes and include a remarkable image of the personification of Death attacking a pope.
Each section of the codex begins with a folio featuring a historiated initial letter, surrounded by decorative margins. These margins include gilded or dark backgrounds, embellished with pearls, cameos, gemstones, flowers, fruit, animals, and grotesques. Notably, Folio 94r, for the Office of the Dead, includes an initial depicting Death as a skeleton in female attire, gazing into a mirror, symbolizing human mortality.
We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Hours of Alfonso d'Este": Offiziolo Alfonsino facsimile edition, published by Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte, 2002
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