The Missal of Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli

Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli

Owners

Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli (1340-1408) was a major patron of Florentine artists, including Gherardo Starnina and the illuminators involved in the production of his Missal. He resided mostly in Rome after becoming Chancellor of the Holy See in 1387, and especially after he was appointed Archpriest of St Peter’s in the Vatican in 1404 and Dean of the College of Cardinals in 1405. Nevertheless, from 1385 until his death Acciaiuoli was also the commendatory abbot of the Badia in Florence, a Benedictine monastery with an active scriptorium. The Badia’s account books, which survive in the State Archives of Florence, preserve the names of the artists responsible for Acciaiuoli’s Missal. Three of them painted the Cardinal’s portrait within the volume.

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1
Detail of the Cardinal’s portrait under magnification (7.5x).
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2
Details of the prophet depicted in the upper right corner under magnification (above: 7.5x; below: 25x).
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Detail of the angel’s brightly coloured robe under magnification (25x), showing the orange and red shading as well as white highlights over the yellow background. XRF analysis of the red area (below) shows the presence of mercury (Hg), the main component of vermilion. The additional presence of lead (Pb) and tin (Sn) is due to the red lead and lead-tin yellow present in the orange and yellow layers underneath, respectively.
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4
The rampant lion in the Cardinal’s arms was painted with ultramarine blue, identified by its typical reflectance minimum at 600 nm in the FORS spectrum (above). What appears to be a black shield underneath was revealed to be silver (Ag) by XRF analysis (below). The metal has tarnished over time and lost its original shine.

The S introduces the Mass for Pentecost, while the smaller initial D with the dove of the Holy Spirit opens the collect (short prayer) recited on Pentecost Sunday. The presence of two historiated initials, and of the patron’s portrait and arms, signal the importance of the feast.

The initial S shows the Virgin and the twelve apostles receiving the Holy Spirit in an interior above and, below, the peoples of the nations of the world, to whom the apostles will soon begin to preach in tongues, gathered outside. This unusual and busy rendition of Pentecost is a faithful replica of an image painted by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci in a manuscript produced at Santa Maria degli Angeli a decade earlier. Less crowded versions of the same composition were reused later by Lorenzo Monaco and Bartolomeo di Fruosino.

This page is representative of Hand B’s work. The Cardinal’s portrait (hotspot 1) exemplifies the monumental figures and robust facial types characteristic of this artist, as do the figures of the prophets depicted in the upper border (hotspot 2).