Friday, November 29, 2013

Maddelena, Lorenzo's favorite daughter


"Historians believe Maddalena de’ Medici, born in Florence on 25 July 1473, was Lorenzo il Magnifico’s favourite daughter. Her marriage to Franceschetto Cybo, the son of Pope Innocent VIII, was a vitally important development for this noble Florentine house. Lorenzo’s prestige grew and, furthermore, he was able to better cultivate his relations with the Pope. This marriage also paved the way for his second son, Giovanni, who was to assume the papal office as Leo X. Maddalena received this work, a small exquisitely adorned and bound book of prayers − now a part of the Rothschild   collection at Waddesdon Manor in England − as a wedding gift. (see post of Aug 24, 2013)  Of the codices commissioned for his daughters, this work was the finest and most richly adorned. The original binding went missing hundreds of years ago. Franco Cosimo Panini Editore therefore conducted in-depth historical and philological research to do the impossible: painstakingly reconstruct the binding as it was, down to the very last detail! An extraordinary tribute to Maddalena de’ Medici has thus been revived." (from http://www.oremedici.it/en/the-manuscript/