Averulinus: De architectura libri XXV.
In terms of production and court representation, the Averulinus Corvina is the closest volume to the Philostratus Corvina. The work itself is the most important tractate on architecture of the 15th century. The original Italian-language text was brought to the royal court by Francesco Bandini, a key figure of the Florence-Buda relations. As well as the Philostratus Corvina, this volume was also translated into Latin by Bonfini who added a preface to King Matthias. Both the scribe of the codex and the illuminator of the exquisitely decorated introducing pages were masters of the Buda workshop, although the identity of the illuminator is still debated in art history research. Some experts think the illumination was made by Francesco da Castello, while others classify it as a work of the Cassianus group. (Edina Zsupán)
The source of the data sheet below is the detailed description of the manuscript: MARCON, Susy, “9.4 Filarete építészeti traktátusa Antonio Bonfini fordításában Mátyás könyvtára számára”, in FARBAKY Péter et al., szerk., Hunyadi Mátyás, a király. Hagyomány és megújulás a királyi udvarban, 1458–1490. Kiállítási katalógus (Budapest: Budapest Történeti Múzeum, 2008.), 331–333., MARCON, Susy, “De architectura libri viginti quinque, ab Antonio Binfinio latine redditi, ad Matthiam Corvinum Hungariae regem”, in FARBAKY, Péter [et al.], a cura di, Mattia Corvino e Firenze. Arte e umanesimo alla corte del re di Ungheria. (Firenze: Giunti, 2013), 130–133.
On the decoration of the manuscript, see: MARUBBI, Mario, “Francesco da Castello pályafutása”, in ZSUPÁN, Edina, szerk., “Az ország díszére”. A Corvina könyvtár budai műhelye. Kiállítási katalógus (Budapest: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár, 2020.), 83–91.
DATA SHEET
Shelfmark: Lat. VIII, 2 (=2796)Country: Italy
City: Venice
Keeper location: Biblioteca Nazionale di San Marci
Digitized corvina: at the keeper location
Author: Antonio di Pietro Averlino or Averulino, also called Filarete (c. 1400– c. 1469)
Content: De architectura libri XXV
Translator: Antonio Bonfini (1427/1434–1502)
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: I + 175
Sheet size: 490 × 305 mm
Place of writing: Buda
Date of writing: around 1487–1489
Illuminator: Francesco da Castello (the interior painting and part of the title page)
Place of illumination: Buda
Date of illumination: around 1487–1489
Crest: the coat-of-arms of Matthias Corvinus (King of Hungary 1458–1490, King of Bohemia 1469–1490) in several versions, combining the following elements: the Árpád stripes, the double cross, the Czech lion, the Austrian coat-of-arms, the coat-of-arms of Moravia and the Hunyadi raven
Possessor, provenience: the manuscript was made for the library of Matthias Corvinus, but after his death it changed hands in Italy in the last years of the fifteenth century, when it was bought by Gioachino Torriano (c. 1416–1500), a general of the Dominican Order; the volume belonged to the library of the most important Dominican convent in Venice, the Santi Giovanni e Paolo, most of which, including this corvina, was transferred to the library of St Mark's Basilica in 1789
Binding: full leather binding (1969)
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: restored (1969, Gabinetto di Restauro del Libro di Praglia)