The Grimani Breviary: the most spectacular facsimile ever

The Grimani Breviary is perhaps the finest Flemish illuminated manuscript. It is unknown on whose behalf it was made, but we know in whose possession it was: Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Cardinal Domenico Grimani bought the manuscript around 1520 for 500 gold ducats. He took the unique book to the Republic of Venice, where it could be displayed "only in exceptional circumstances to important persons".

     

 

The manuscript, which contains 835 sheets (1760 pages), is bound in purple velvet, decorated with finely wrought ironwork, including gilt bronze medallions with portraits of the doge Antonio Grimani and Cardinal Domenico Grimani.

The most impressive feature of this manuscript is the enormous size. At a size of 22.5 by 30 cm. it makes it a stunning impression. Due to the unique artistic quality it is a manuscript no serious collection of medieval manuscript facsimiles should be without.

The manuscript contains a spectacular 120 full page miniatures and a great many beautifully decorated capitals. Each of the 1,760 pages has its own breathtaking miniature decorations of flowers and animals which one feels tempted to pluck from the page.

Besides Biblical illustrations the miniatures show an impressive amount of scenes from daily life of around 1500. Throughout the work gold is being used in a quiet and elegant way.

This unique masterpiece of miniature art in the Low Countries is world famous and yet hardly known. For understandable reasons, one can see the manuscript only under very special circumstances. The reproductions hitherto existing hardly do justice to the beauty of the original.
For scholars and art lovers a facsimile reprint using the most modern techniques of reproduction with full commitment to the original was an urgent necessity. The Italian publisher Salerno Editrice, took up this glove and after years of preparation, this incomparable reissue is now available.

The edition is limited to 750 copies worldwide. Each copy is hand numbered and therefore unique. A detailed commentary volume highlights the historical and art historical background of this very special manuscript.

This exclusive facsimile reprint is now available for € 22.000,00. The payment of this amount can be done in monthly installments, if so preferred.
For serious buyers a beautiful documentation kit with some sheets from the Breviary is available.

A few of the many, many wonderful full page miniatures are shown below.
If you are interested in acquiring one of the 750 copies, we can send you without any obligation a documentation brochure with examples of some of the pages. Please send us an email message.