Mikó Árpád szerk.: Reneissance year 2008 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/1)
PÉTER FARBAKY, ÁRPÁD MIKO, ENIKŐ SPEKNER, KORNÉL SZOVÁK, ISTVÁN TRINGLI, ANDRÁS VÉGH: Matthias Corvinus, the King. Tradition and Renewal in the Hungarian Royal Court, 1458-1490
been re-attributed, and is now considered to be the work of an unknown Tuscan artist. The Corvina Library According to the sources, the royal library took up two halls in the royal palace of Buda, in the range facing the Danube. Matthias built up the library at an ever-increasing rate in the 1480s, seeing it as of major importance in his succession plans. It took its name from the Corvinus legend, the fictive ancient origins of Matthias' family devised by Ransanus and Bonfini. Books for the library were given ornate leather or velvet bindings. Some of the codices were copied and illuminated (by illuminators from Lombardy) in Buda, and the gold-tooled Corvina bindings were also made locally. In the last few years of his reign, Matthias employed the foremost Florentine illuminators, including Attavante degli Attavanti (Brussels Missale Roman uni), Bocchardino il Vecchio (the Budapest Philostratus) and the brothers Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni (the third volume of the Florence Bible). Giovanni Dalmata: Virgin and Child, c. 1 4 ( ><S Padova, Musei Civici, Museo d'Artc Medioevale e Möderau Sculpture in the Matthias-Era The foremost artist working in Hungary at that time was undoubtedly Matthias' court sculptor, the Dalmatianborn Giovanni Dalmata. His reputation as co-sculptor of Pope Paul 11 's tomb in the Vatican prompted an invitation from Matthias to carve the royal tomb in Székesfehérvár, although it is not certain whether the Székesfehérvár tomb was actually made. One of his works, however, the marble "Diósgyőr Madonna" altar, has survived. Also usually attributed to him is the Hercules Fountain in Visegrád, fragments of which have been found in archaeological excavations. The other major artist was the "Master of the Marble Madonnas", who has recently been identified through archive documents as Gregono di Lorenzo of Florence. He came to Hungary in 1475, having been referred by the courts of Naples and Ferrara, particularly Beatrice' sister. Apart from small fragments, only one of his principal works survives, the "Visegrád Madonna Relief, made for the chapel of the royal palace in Visegrád, although its exact location is unknown. The Nagyvázsony cherub head, also of veiy high standard, has recently Pontifical of János Vitéz jr., 14H0— 1400 Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Ottob. Lat. 501.
