page_title: Maria Ormani
hierarchical_section_title: Maria Ormani
caption_attribution_description: English: Manuscript page with drawing by the nun-scribe Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi
context_page_description: Maria Ormani degli Albizzi, was an Italian Augustinian Hermit nun-scribe and manuscript illustrator. Her real name was Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi, born in 1428 in Florence.
  She was the grand-daughter of Rinaldo degli Albizzi, leader of the aristocratic Guelph party; both her father Ormanno and grandfather Rinaldo were exiled when the Medici family returned to Florence in 1434. Maria lived through the turmoil of their condemnation, departure, and conﬁscation of family properties during this exile. In 1438 she entered the convent of Santa Caterina al Monte, known as San Gaggio, located just outside the walls of Florence. The nuns of San Gaggio formed an elite community with an outstanding library inherited from Cardinal Pietro Corsini. They copied their own breviaries and manuscripts for the Augustinian friars at Santo Spirito, Florence, and for the new Augustinian female convent of Santa Monaca. They were also active in the textiles industry and produced fine linens and gold thread.
  Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi's most notable work is an apparent self-portrait in a breviary that she signed and dated 1453.
context_section_description: Maria Ormani degli Albizzi (born 1428, died around 1470), was an Italian Augustinian Hermit nun-scribe and manuscript illustrator. Her real name was Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi, born in 1428 in Florence. 
  
  She was the grand-daughter of Rinaldo degli Albizzi, leader of the aristocratic Guelph party; both her father Ormanno and grandfather Rinaldo were exiled when the Medici family returned to Florence in 1434. Maria lived through the turmoil of their condemnation, departure, and conﬁscation of family properties during this exile. In 1438 she entered the convent of Santa Caterina al Monte, known as San Gaggio, located just outside the walls of Florence. The nuns of San Gaggio formed an elite community with an outstanding library inherited from Cardinal Pietro Corsini. They copied their own breviaries and manuscripts for the Augustinian friars at Santo Spirito, Florence, and for the new Augustinian female convent of Santa Monaca. They were also active in the textiles industry and produced fine linens and gold thread.
  Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi's most notable work is an apparent self-portrait in a breviary (Ms. Cod. 1923, Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) that she signed and dated 1453. This is the earliest dated self-portrait by a woman artist in Italian Renaissance art. Her image is framed by a scroll with a Latin inscription describing her as "handmaid of God, daughter of Orman, and the writer of the book." Her inscription gives her father's first name, but drops the family surname. Maria sketched her countenance in silverpoint in the bas-de-page of the Advent frontispiece, but did not paint the border or most initials. Based on the style, the breviary's other initials and borders were finished by north Italian illuminators in the 1470s. Maria's portrait differs from Florentine secular women's portraits of the mid-fifteenth century in its frontal pose and direct "self-possessed" gaze.
caption: 1453 manuscript page with drawing by Ormani
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "804", "Image ImageLength": "425", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "150", "Image YResolution": "150", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2018:07:06 16:10:22", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6264", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "804", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "425"}