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Initially the famed Bibliotheca Corviniana, Matthias's collection, had no political purpose; however, as manuscripts flooded in from Florence and sumptuous bindings were added to some of the manuscripts already at Buda (around the latter half of the 1480s), the library grew into one of princely proportions. We can no longer determine when the two halls that made up the library were given their lavish decoration and furnishings; what we do know is that these must have existed by the time Naldo Naldi wrote his panegyric to the library around 1488. The illuminated manuscripts there were on a par with any in the great libraries of the Italian princes, with the volumes commissioned by King Matthias considered as the finest of the extant Florentine illuminated manuscripts.
As was already suggested, Queen Beatrice played an important part in cultivating the all’antica style, fully aware of its significance as a vehicle of royal power. She was fitted to do so not just by her upbringing as daughter of the King of Naples, but also—of no little consequence—by the revenues she disposed of as Queen of Hungary.

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Árpád Mikó
is Curator of the Old Hungarian Department of the Hungarian National Gallery.