TEXT FROM THE FEAST OF STS. PETER AND PAUL
- Italy [Ferrara] , 1441-48
Italy [Ferrara], 1441-48. Visible leaf: 245 x 187 mm. (9 5/8 x 7 3/8"); Frame: 380 x 315 mm. (15 x 12 1/4"). Double column, 30 lines in a very fine rounded gothic hand (a few lines of text in the same hand, but smaller).
Mounted and in a simple but pleasing gold frame. Visible side with rubrics in red, one-line initials in burnished gold or painted blue, one two-line initial in burnished gold on a pale pink ground with white tracery, a lovely illuminated bar between the columns, with a central plant knot AND SPROUTING IN UPPER AND LOWER MARGINS CLUSTERS OF FLOWERS AND LEAVES IN VARIOUS COLORS AS WELL AS GOLD BEZANTS, outer margin with swirling penwork studded with gilt bezants running the length of the column, each penwork swirl enclosing a painted and gilt flower, with ONE FIVE-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL DEPICTING ST. PAUL HOLDING A SWORD AND BOOK, the initial painted pink with green leaves and a blue and green acanthus extension on a gilt ground. ◆Not examined outside of frame, but in very fine condition: vellum slightly wavy, text in the bottom margin just a bit faded, but, by all appearances, A VERY CLEAN, BRIGHT LEAF, SPARKLING WITH GILT.
Executed with great skill and delicacy and in sensitive Italianate colors highlighted especially by spring green and pink, the present leaf is from a manuscript intended for a powerful aristocrat. It comes from the celebrated Breviary illuminated for the chapel of the Marquises of Este, rulers of Ferrara and Mantua, a manuscript commissioned by Leonello d'Este (duke of Ferrara from 1441-50). Because the d'Este family kept excellent records, we have confidence that this manuscript was done for Leonello by Giorgio d'Alemagna, Bartolomeo de Benincà, Guglielmo Giraldi, and Matteo de' Pasti (see Toniolo, "La Miniatura a Ferrara dal Tempo di Cosmè Tura all'eredità di Ercole de' Roberti" [1998], pp. 19-20 and 76-77). The leaves show subtle variations in the style of the illuminations, a result of work done by a team of artists doing variations on a theme. At one time in a Spanish library, the manuscript was brought to Britain during the Peninsular War and came to be owned by the Rolls family, later Lords Llangattock, of Monmouth in Wales, from whom it takes its name. By the time the work reached Britain, most of the miniatures had already been cut out. The Breviary sold at Christie's on 8 December 1958 (lot #190) to Goodspeed's of Boston, who broke it up. The intact first quire of 10 leaves was purchased by Philip Hofer and given to Harvard (cf. Wieck, "Late Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts," p. 130 and fig. 74), and individual leaves appeared in 1967 in the catalogues of Folio Fine Art ("the quality of the leaves is extremely high"), Maggs Brothers ("of a very high quality"), and Alan Thomas ("of exquisite quality"). The present example is especially desirable for the portrait of St. Paul, who is depicted holding a sword and book, and whose carefully molded features reflect the growing interest in realistic portraiture in Renaissance Italy..
Mounted and in a simple but pleasing gold frame. Visible side with rubrics in red, one-line initials in burnished gold or painted blue, one two-line initial in burnished gold on a pale pink ground with white tracery, a lovely illuminated bar between the columns, with a central plant knot AND SPROUTING IN UPPER AND LOWER MARGINS CLUSTERS OF FLOWERS AND LEAVES IN VARIOUS COLORS AS WELL AS GOLD BEZANTS, outer margin with swirling penwork studded with gilt bezants running the length of the column, each penwork swirl enclosing a painted and gilt flower, with ONE FIVE-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL DEPICTING ST. PAUL HOLDING A SWORD AND BOOK, the initial painted pink with green leaves and a blue and green acanthus extension on a gilt ground. ◆Not examined outside of frame, but in very fine condition: vellum slightly wavy, text in the bottom margin just a bit faded, but, by all appearances, A VERY CLEAN, BRIGHT LEAF, SPARKLING WITH GILT.
Executed with great skill and delicacy and in sensitive Italianate colors highlighted especially by spring green and pink, the present leaf is from a manuscript intended for a powerful aristocrat. It comes from the celebrated Breviary illuminated for the chapel of the Marquises of Este, rulers of Ferrara and Mantua, a manuscript commissioned by Leonello d'Este (duke of Ferrara from 1441-50). Because the d'Este family kept excellent records, we have confidence that this manuscript was done for Leonello by Giorgio d'Alemagna, Bartolomeo de Benincà, Guglielmo Giraldi, and Matteo de' Pasti (see Toniolo, "La Miniatura a Ferrara dal Tempo di Cosmè Tura all'eredità di Ercole de' Roberti" [1998], pp. 19-20 and 76-77). The leaves show subtle variations in the style of the illuminations, a result of work done by a team of artists doing variations on a theme. At one time in a Spanish library, the manuscript was brought to Britain during the Peninsular War and came to be owned by the Rolls family, later Lords Llangattock, of Monmouth in Wales, from whom it takes its name. By the time the work reached Britain, most of the miniatures had already been cut out. The Breviary sold at Christie's on 8 December 1958 (lot #190) to Goodspeed's of Boston, who broke it up. The intact first quire of 10 leaves was purchased by Philip Hofer and given to Harvard (cf. Wieck, "Late Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts," p. 130 and fig. 74), and individual leaves appeared in 1967 in the catalogues of Folio Fine Art ("the quality of the leaves is extremely high"), Maggs Brothers ("of a very high quality"), and Alan Thomas ("of exquisite quality"). The present example is especially desirable for the portrait of St. Paul, who is depicted holding a sword and book, and whose carefully molded features reflect the growing interest in realistic portraiture in Renaissance Italy..
Details
Title
TEXT FROM THE FEAST OF STS. PETER AND PAUL
Author
A VERY FINE MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF IN LATIN, FROM THE LLANGATTOCK BREVIARY, WITH AN HISTORIATED INITIAL DEPICTING ST. PAUL
Condition
Unknown
Publisher
Italy [Ferrara]
Date
1441-48