The Library of a 'Humanist Prince' Federico da Montefeltro and His Manuscripts [by M.G. Critelli]

Federico Veterani

d. after 1526

The activity of Federico Veterani as an illuminator is a very controversial topic; he is certainly the scribe of some manuscripts of Federico da Montefeltro's collection (for example, he claims to have copied Urb. lat. 419 and 651, dated between 1471 and 1472, as an adolescent). On the basis of these examples, some scholars also wanted to attribute their decorative and illustrative apparatus to him, as in fact, he claims to have embellished these pages, together with those of the Urb. lat. 420 (Fachechi, Veterani, Federico, pp. 989-990; see also Martelli, I codici di produzione urbinate, pp. 69-77). By means of stylistic comparison, therefore, a considerable group of Urbino manuscripts has been associated with his name, such as Urb. lat. 423, 424, 425, 452 (Martelli, I codici di produzione urbinate, pp. 69-77). The decoration often appears imprecise in its design, and built on the repetition of some figurative styles, one on which include friezes with bianchi girari inhabited by putti and birds. The undersigning that he penned in the Urb. lat. 419 and 420 however, are well after the death of Federico and very late compared to the time of the making of the relative manuscripts. Furthermore, from the semantic point of view, the terms used by him, minio decoravi (Urb. lat. 420, f. 1r) and minio decoraverim (Urb. lat. 651, f. 136v) are better suited to the activity of calligrapher and of rubricator. It is therefore more probable that the execution of the illustrative apparatus of such manuscripts be referred to a currently anonymous illuminator, formed in Pesaro at the end of the sixth decade of the fifteenth century. In the years of the marriage between Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza, the illuminator perhaps took up his service in the scriptorium of Urbino, where he was assisted by an full-fledged workshop of illuminators (Fumian, Autografia, prassi di bottega , pp. 55-66).

FACHECHI, Veterani, Federico, pp. 989-990; MARTELLI, Miniatore attivo a Urbino, pp. 196-199; MARTELLI, I codici di produzione urbinate, pp. 69-77; FUMIAN, Autografia, prassi di bottega, pp. 55-66.

General Bibliography

Urb. lat. 420, f. 1r - Urb. lat. 651, f. 136v 

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