Capponi and Ridolfi were two historical families of Florence. Aristocrats by birth and politicians by vocation, Gino Capponi and Cosimo Ridolfi belonged to the group of moderate liberals summoned by Leopold II of Lorraine in 1847 to administer the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
A Wedding Gift of Unparalleled Value
Conserved in the Biblioteca Riccardiana and inventoried under number 483, this splendid volume was a wedding gift, which recalls the marriage of two descendants of the illustrious houses in 1500, Niccola di Andrea di Niccola Capponi and Antonia di Battista di Luigi Ridolfi. Of extremely limited dimensions, only a few centimetres each side, and yet of exquisite workmanship, it is one of the smallest prayer books that has come down to the present day.
An extreme synthesis of an art by then at its dusk, as was the miniature in the late fifteenth century, this manuscript was commissioned from Monte di Giovanni, one of the greatest Florentine masters of the time, who conferred on its tiny pages the same breadth found in the tables and large anthem books for public use.
We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Capponi-Ridolfi Prayer Book": Dono d'Amore: le Ore Capponi-Ridolfi facsimile edition, published by Vallecchi, 2007
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