28 - CONGREGATION OF ARTISTS.

CONGREGATION OF ARTISTS. Various prayers recited by the members of the Congregation of Artists in Reggio, as shown in the Index at the end of this volume. (Italy, Reggio), (1816). Small folio. (1)-61-(2) handwritten pages in brown ink on laid paper, text framed in red ink, index at the end. Green sheepskin morocco binding, spine with 6 raised bands, covers decorated in the neoclassical style of the period with gilt medallions and friezes, antique or imperial gilt profiles in the spandrels, gilt CA monogram on the front cover and the date 1816 on the back (binding slightly scuffed). An Italian manuscript produced in Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy) in its binding bearing the gilded emblem of the city’s Congregation of Artists, certainly executed at the end of the Napoleonic era. A valuable testament to the Italian Congregazioni degli Artisti that reemerged after the fall of the Empire—and likely in this instance due to Reggio’s annexation to the Duchy of Modena, given the stamped date. This manuscript may be a “refounding” document and may have been commissioned, along with its binding, to mark the restoration of the pious congregations by the ducal authorities. A collection of specific prayers recited by the brothers of the Artists’ Congregations, which had existed since the 17th century—a sort of pious guild under the patronage of the Church, composed of artisans in the liberal arts (tailors, bakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers). The binding dates to the Italian Restoration period and reflects the Imperial and Neoclassical styles of the time. According to the archives of the city of Reggio, this congregation ceased to exist around 1824. Unsigned manuscript. CONGREGATION OF ARTISTS. PRAYER.