Venice: Mindful Hands. Masterpieces of Illumination from
the Fondazione Giorgio Cini. The large exhibition entitled Mindful Hands. Masterpieces of
Illumination from the Fondazione Giorgio Cini are on show at the foundation on
the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, until January 8. Around 120 works from the collection
of 238 Mediaeval and
Renaissance miniatures acquired by Vittorio Cini from the Libreria Antiquaria Hoepli in Milan in 1939-1940, as well as, a select group of
particularly fine illuminated codices,
are also on display. The Cini miniature collection is one of the most important
of its kind in the world. It is made up of illuminated leaves and cuttings of
initials, mostly from liturgical works (graduals and psalteries), comparable
both in type and quality to other works in major museums of the world.
Miniatore Veneziano cosidetto – Giustino del fu Gherardino da Forli
iniziale
ritagliato da stesso Graduale – seconda meta XIV secolo
+
Maestro dell’Antifonario Q
Antifonario Comune del Tempo – S. Vescovo Conessore
seconda meta
XV secolo
Mindful Hands
Masterpieces of Illumination from
the Fondazione Giorgio Cini
The exhibition is produced
by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with Studio Michele
De Lucchi and Factum Arte, with the support of the Helen Hamlyn
Trust and the contribution of Pirelli. The
installation and layout designed by the Studio
Michele De Lucchi, above, is inspired by the settings and atmosphere of the
Mediaeval illumination tradition, translated into a contemporary key.
Miniatore Veneziano detto Maestro T. Ve.
attivo a Venezia 1530-1565
Melchiorre Salomon in preghiera di fronte a
Christo – L
Venezia incoronata come Giustizia – R
Venezia 1561
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Miniatore Veneziano detto Maestro manierista
attivo Venezia 1555-1574c.
Allegoria di Venezia della Fama e di san Nicolo di Bari
1563 c.
Maestro del Matrirologio dei battuti
Neri di Ferrara
Attivo
Ferrara XV secolo
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Maestro del Plinio di Pico?
Attivo
Ferrara XV secolo
Martirologio della confraternita dei
Battuti Neri di Ferrara
Crocifissione – 9v C.
Ferrara XV
The room conjures up the atmosphere of the penitential
and meditational itineraries of the Mediaeval confraternity of the Battuti Neri
of Ferrara and the full significance of one of the books they used, the Martirologio
(Martyrology). Here the visitor is surrounded by enormous enlargements, thanks to Adam Lowe’s Factum Arte (experts on digital techniques applied to
the conservation, reproduction and interpretation of works of art), of ten of
the most emblematic miniatures in the codex. The dramatic atmosphere of the
room in semi-darkness is heightened by a powerful sound installation:
recordings of pre-polyphonic singing made in the mid-20th century by Father
Pellegrino Ernetti, a Benedictine monk in the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore
and also a renowned musicologist.
Giovan Pietro Birago
Attivo a Milano 1471-1513
Officium parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis per
Annum
Milano 1493-1495
This room is devoted to the Cini Offiziolo (Book of
Hours): the whole of the left wall is occupied by a huge installation lining up
enlargements and one-to-one scale reproductions of each of the illuminated
pages of the little book, while a video illustrates the scanning techniques and the
making of a facsimile of it.
Offiziolo
- Book of Hours
A
facsimile, of the Offiziolo, which visitors can touch and leaf through was made
by Factum Arte who devised a system based on a LED-lit prism with a mirror on
one side to obtain high-resolution photographs of each individual page without
ever applying any pressure on the very delicate object.