Created in Ferrara during the heyday of the city's illumination: a devotional book with 68 gold-decorated miniatures in honor of St. Augustine
Sant'Agostino Estense
Ferrara (Italy) — 1482

Sant'Agostino Estense
Ferrara (Italy) — 1482
Ferrara was an established center for the production of manuscripts when this work emerged in 1482
Under the direction of the d'Este princes, local workshops produced magnificent illuminated codices
This masterpiece was a collaboration of the scribe Andrea dalle Vieze and the painter Tommaso da Modena (1326–1379)
Sant'Agostino Estense
- Orationes ex meditationibus et ex Soliloquiis Divi Patris Augustini Episcopi hipponensis. Ad illustrissimum Herculem Ferrariae Ducem
- San Agustín de Hipona
- Sant'Agostino
Short Description
Long before 1471, Ferrara was an established center for the production of manuscripts. Local workshops under Leonello d'Este (1407-50) had stressed the classics and humanistic subjects, and under Borso d’Este (1413–71) had shifted their focus to magnificently illuminated books, to translations, and to vernacular literature. Under his half-brother Ercole (1431–1505), they broadened still further. Ercole ordered at least four splendidly illuminated Breviaries for his personal use and among them is this wonderful Orationes by Saint Agustine (354-430). A work of Andrea dalle Vieze (scribe) and Tommaso da Modena (artist), the Sant’Agostino Estense, with its 68 miniatures embellished with gold and more than 130 smaller gilded and colored initials, was produced around 1482 for the Este court and is counted among the masterpiece produced in Ferrara.
Sant'Agostino Estense
A manuscript worthy of the powerful and sophisticated House of Este, the Sant'Agostino Estense. The 68 miniatures and 130+ initials glimmering with gold leaf found in this manuscript are a splendid reflection of the tremendous works of Renaissance illumination that were being produced in Ferrara, which was already a well-established center of manuscript production in Italy when this splendid manuscript was created in 1482. Produced by leading artists of the period, it is dedicated to Ercole I d'Este (1431-1505), second Duke of Ferrara, and brother of Borso d’Este (1413-71).
The Este Family: Famous Patrons of Art
Leonello d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara (1407-50) cultivated an atmosphere in which artists’ workshops thrived and produced Humanist works focused on classical literature. Under his less-educated brother Borso d’Este, the intellectual life of the city stagnated somewhat and thus the illuminators turned to providing magnificently illuminated books, translations, and vernacular literature that appealed to rich patrons. Borso was succeeded in turn by his half-brother Ercole d’Este (1431-1505), who carried on the tradition of art patronage and expanded it to music, creating a musical establishment to rival Rome’s by importing Franco-Flemish musicians to Italy.
Part of a Grand Tradition
Four magnificent breviaries created for his personal use attest to Ercole’s status as a leading patron of the arts and include the splendid Orationes by Saint Agustine (354-430), which carries the full name Orationes ex meditationibus et ex Soliloquiis Divi Patris Augustini Episcopi hipponensis. This manuscript was a collaborative effort by the scribe Andrea dalle Vieze and the miniaturist Tommaso da Modena (ca. 1325-1379). Andrea dalle Vieze wrote the 384-page text in a single column of 21 lines, which is adorned with 7 historiated initials and 130+ smaller golden and colored initials.
A Lost Manuscript
In spite of its magnificence, the Sant'Agostino Estense was never properly cataloged in the Estense Library and was lost when the Este court moved to Modena in 1598. Although it is not known how or when, the manuscript made its way into the collection of the Venetian patrician and bibliophile Jacopo Nani (d. 1796), who upon his death donated it to the Marciana Library in Venice, where it is safely stored – and cataloged - today.
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Orationes ex meditationibus et ex Soliloquiis Divi Patris Augustini Episcopi hipponensis. Ad illustrissimum Herculem Ferrariae Ducem
San Agustín de Hipona
Sant'Agostino - Size / Format
- 384 pages / 18.0 × 11.8 cm
- Origin
- Ferrara (Italy)
- Date
- 1482
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Illustrations
- 68 miniatures and 130+ gilded and colored initials
- Artist / School
- Illustrator: Tommaso da Modena
Scribe: Andrea dalle Vieze - Previous Owners
- Ercole I d'Este (1431-1505)
Jacopo Nani (d. 1796)
1 available facsimile edition(s) of „Sant'Agostino Estense“
Sant'Agostino Estense
- Publisher
- Graffiti – Granarolo dell'Emilia, 2011
- Limited Edition
- 695 copies
- Binding
- Leather
- Commentary
-
1 volume
- More Information
- Reproduction of the entire original document as detailed as possible (scope, format, colors). The binding may not correspond to the original or current document binding.
Matching Works
Anglo‐Norman Martyrology: Picture Book of Madame Marie
Realistic, unsparing depictions of the agonies of famous saints and martyrs in full-page miniatures
Experience MoreThe Warsaw Sforziad + La Bella Principessa
A hymn of praise to the Sforza, but famous for a painting costing around 100 million dollars: a likely portrait of a young Bianca Sforza personally drawn by Leonardo da Vinci
Experience MoreMatching Background Articles
Saints' Lives
How does one become a saint? Find out by reading about the lives of the saints and the example they set through their...Experience moreRenaissance
What does the word “Renaissance” bring to mind for you? Art, science, and culture of course! It was a "rebirth" and...Experience more15th Century
Come and explore an age of stark contrasts as Europe comes back from the brink: calamities like the Fall of...Experience more
- Treatises / Secular Books
- Apocalypses / Beatus
- Astronomy / Astrology
- Bestiaries
- Bibles / Gospels
- Chronicles / History / Law
- Geography / Maps
- Saints' Lives
- Islam / Oriental
- Judaism / Hebrew
- Single Leaf Collections
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Literature / Poetry
- Liturgical Manuscripts
- Medicine / Botany / Alchemy
- Music
- Mythology / Prophecies
- Psalters
- Other Religious Books
- Games / Hunting
- Private Devotion Books
- Other Genres
- Aboca Museum
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)
- Aldo Ausilio Editore - Bottega d’Erasmo
- Alecto Historical Editions
- Ars Magna
- ArtCodex
- AyN Ediciones
- Bärenreiter-Verlag
- Belser Verlag
- Belser Verlag / WK Wertkontor
- Bernardinum Wydawnictwo
- BiblioGemma
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vaticanstadt, Vaticanstadt)
- Bibliotheca Palatina Faksimile Verlag
- Bibliotheca Rara
- CAPSA, Ars Scriptoria
- Circulo Cientifico
- Club Bibliófilo Versol
- CM Editores
- Collezione Apocrifa Da Vinci
- Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses
- Coron Verlag
- De Agostini/UTET
- DIAMM
- E. Schreiber Graphische Kunstanstalten
- Ediciones Boreal
- Ediciones Grial
- Edilan
- Editalia
- Edition Leipzig
- Edition Libri Illustri
- Editiones Reales Sitios S. L.
- Editions Medicina Rara
- Editorial Mintzoa
- Egeria, S.L.
- Extraordinary Editions
- Facsimile Editions Ltd.
- Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG
- Faksimile Verlag
- Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
- Fundación Hullera Vasco-Leonesa
- Giunti Editore
- Graffiti
- Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
- Helikon
- Herder Verlag
- Hes & De Graaf Publishers
- Hugo Schmidt Verlag
- Idion Verlag
- Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte
- Imago
- Insel Verlag
- Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani
- Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
- Kaydeda Ediciones
- La Meta Editore
- Leo S. Olschki
- Libreria Musicale Italiana
- Lumen Artis
- M. Moleiro Editor
- Manuscriptum
- Millennium Liber
- Nova Charta
- Orbis Mediaevalis
- Orbis Pictus
- Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
- Patrimonio Ediciones
- PIAF
- Popyläen Verlag
- Prestel Verlag
- Priuli & Verlucca, editori
- Pro Sport Verlag
- Pytheas Books
- Quaternio Verlag Luzern
- Reales Sitios
- Reichert Verlag
- Roberto Vattori Editore
- Salerno Editrice
- Schöck ArtPrint Kft.
- Scrinium
- Scripta Maneant
- Scriptorium
- Siloé, arte y bibliofilia
- Styria Verlag
- Tempus Libri
- Testimonio Compañía Editorial
- The Clear Vue Publishing Partnership Limited
- The Facsimile Codex
- The Folio Society
- Tip.Le.Co
- TouchArt
- Trident Editore
- Vallecchi
- Van Wijnen
- Vicent Garcia Editores
- Wiener Mechitharisten-Congregation (Wien, Österreich)
- Yushodo