This elaborately decorated five-volume choir book was made for a church in the Tuscan city of Impruneta. To complete such a large project, several illuminators from Pacino di Bonaguida's workshop were put to the task.
What is an Antiphonary?
Hymns for the Canonical Hours
An antiphonary is a large-scale choir book designed for use by a group of singers during the Divine Office, the eight prayer services celebrated daily by Christian monks, nuns, and clerics.
This set from Impruneta features lavishly decorated initials containing narrative scenes for the major holidays of the church year.
What is an Antiphonary?
Illuminating the Liturgical Year
The five volumes of this antiphonary together contain about 1,300 pages and close to one hundred illuminations, ranging from full-page images with complex narrative scenes to single episodes set within the initial (the first letter) of a hymn. The choir books' hymns pertain to particular feast days in the liturgical calendar year. Some pages include foliate designs in the borders filled with animals or small human figures, while in the lower margins of other pages a story unfolds.
The Workshop
Selling Art on Street Corners
The workshop formed the foundation for artistic production in fourteenth-century Italy, where teams of apprentices were often trained to work in the style of a master. Studios were generally located on the ground floor of a building and opened onto the street. After having spent one to eight years as an apprentice, an artist could either continue to work for hire within the shop or go on to become a master himself.
The Workshop
A Network of Guilds
Artistic production in Renaissance Florence was highly regulated by a guild system, a means to regulate specialized trades. In the first half of the fourteenth century, panel painters (and some illuminators) purchased their pigments and binding materials from the guild of the Medici e Speziali (doctors and apothecaries) and were eventually invited to join their ranks.
The Workshop
Working in the Master's Style
The Annunciation—the event at which the Virgin Mary learns she will bear the Son of God—was clearly a subject of great importance for patrons of the antiphonary from Impruneta; the event appears in three of the set's five volumes. The Annunciation and how it was traditionally depicted in Florentine art would have been familiar to Pacino. Although images of the event share similar features, members of Pacino's workshop treated the Virgin Mary and Angel Gabriel differently, as can be seen by comparing faces and garments.
Artist Collaborations
Distinguishing between Artists
Apart from training a highly productive workshop to imitate his style, Pacino di Bonaguida often collaborated on ambitious commissions with artists who had their own distinct approach to painting. Distinguishing between artists within a single commission, like the antiphonary from Impruneta, is a difficult exercise and many scholars often weigh in on what defines a particular artist's hand. When taken together, the following features can help with this process: the way faces are painted, the interaction between figures, and the image's composition.
Impruneta
A Small Town near Florence
Located about seven and a half miles south of Florence, the town of Impruneta was home to some of the wealthiest families in Tuscany. The Church of Santa Maria dell'Impruneta, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, contained a miraculous image of the Virgin and one of the few baptismal fonts in the region, both of which attracted the faithful from near and far.
Impruneta
A Miraculous Image
The Church of Santa Maria dell'Impruneta not only housed the antiphonary illuminated by Pacino di Bonaguida and his collaborators, but also a painting of the Virgin Mary that was thought to have been miraculously painted by Saint Luke. At times when the Arno River flooded, this image of Santa Maria dell'Impruneta was carried in procession to Florence, encouraging citizens to pray for the Virgin's divine intervention.
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The Virgin and Child, Santa Maria dell'Impruneta
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The Church of Santa Maria dell'Impruneta as it appears today
Impruneta
Commissioning Books of Song
In the lower margin of one of the antiphonary's volumes, a tonsured cleric raises folded hands in veneration of The Annunciation set within an initial M above. The man may be one of the patrons who helped pay for the set of books, perhaps a member of the wealthy Buondelmonti family, prominent patrons of the church. The Feast of the Annunciation (March 25), shown on this page, must have been particularly important to him.
