An exhibit entitled “Mattia Corvino e Firenze. Arte e umanesimo alla corte del re di Ungheria” inside the library of San Marco is an opportunity to see some luscious Renaissance illuminated manuscripts from Florentine as well as Hungarian collections.
Matthias Corvinus was king of Hungary from 1458 to 1490. Like Lorenzo “il Magnifico” in Florence, Corvinus was a Humanist, and the two are considered “united by their diplomatic ties [and] their shared personal passion for the ancient and modern knowledge to be found in books housed, in turn, in libraries famous also for their beauty,” says Cristina Acidini.
For those who weren’t aware – and I certainly was not – 2013 is the “Italian culture in Hungary and of Hungarian culture in Italy,” so, following an idea of Acidini, the exhibition was jointly developed by Hungarian and Florentine scholars: Péter Farbaky, an art historian and the deputy director of the Budapest History Museum, Dániel Pócs, an art historian with the Academy of Science’s Art History Institute, Eniko Spekner, a historian, and András Végh,an archaeologist, both with the Budapest History Museum, and Magnolia Scudieri and Lia Brunori, the director and deputy director respectively of the Museo di San Marco.
Through manuscripts as well as small sculptures and objects commissioned by the Hungarian king, the exhibit shows the spread of Florentine humanist culture and art in Hungary, using loans from Hungarian and other European collections. I reproduce here the most beautiful of the manuscripts in the show.
Exhibit information
Mattia Corvino e Firenze. Arte e umanesimo alla corte del re di Ungheria
Biblioteca Monumentale, Museo di San Marco, Firenze
October 10 2013 – January 6 2014See website for details
All photos reproduced with permission, distributed to the press. Please do not reproduce these images but contact the press office of Un anno ad arte for usage.
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