The New York Public Library, Spencer Collection
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
De Civitate Dei [The City of God]
[Florence, ca. 1470]
Saint Augustine is shown here as a Renaissance scholar, writing at his desk while contemplating a city floating overhead. Scholars have seen this celestial city as both the City of God in Augustine's great book as well as the city of Florence, identifying the dome as Brunelleschi's masterpiece atop the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The dome had been completed only a few years before this manuscript was painted, and the artist of this miniature, Zanobi di Strozzi, had been working in and near Florence for many years. The ornament around the border, a style called "white vine," was most likely painted by another Florentine artist.
De Civitate Dei [The City of God]
[Florence, ca. 1470]
Saint Augustine is shown here as a Renaissance scholar, writing at his desk while contemplating a city floating overhead. Scholars have seen this celestial city as both the City of God in Augustine's great book as well as the city of Florence, identifying the dome as Brunelleschi's masterpiece atop the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The dome had been completed only a few years before this manuscript was painted, and the artist of this miniature, Zanobi di Strozzi, had been working in and near Florence for many years. The ornament around the border, a style called "white vine," was most likely painted by another Florentine artist.
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