Book of Hours, Use of Rome (Hours of Lucrezia Borgia?)

Book of Hours, Use of Rome (Hours of Lucrezia Borgia?)

While the layout of this book is more reminiscent of a Missal or a Breviary, it nonetheless contains all of the sections habitually found in a Book of Hours, including a calendar with numerous Milanese and Franciscan Saints and fifteen prayers of Saint Bridget. The underlying design of the all’antica border design, with its carefully shaded pearls, grotesque faces, and golden acanthus leaves, points to the ambit of Giovanni Pietro Birago (act. 1471–1513), an illuminator with close links to the Sforza court. The coat of arms in the lower margin depicted here belonged to Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519), the famous illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. The arms, quartered with those of her husband Alfonso d’Este (1476–1534), must date from between their marriage in February 1502 and his elevation to the dukedom in June 1505.

Illuminator: workshop assistant of Giovanni Pietro Birago

ca. 1500–1510; perhaps 1501–6

Manuscript on parchment, 63 fols.

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 119

Milan (?), Italy