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Details
THE SPANISH FORGER. Large illuminated miniature on a cutting from a 15th-century manuscript choirbook on vellum
[Paris, c.1900]
210 x 157mm. Arch-topped miniature showing a female saint crowning a knight kneeling before her with a wreath, her entourage behind, all standing before a castle, the knight accompanied by his courtiers and soldiers, a boat on the sea in the distance, the whole within a baguette-border, painted on vellum and illuminated with burnished gold; the verso with 4 lines of music of square notation on a 5-line red stave and text in a large gothic hand in brown ink (small areas of loss to gold, some surface abrasion with tiny losses of pigment, a few tiny holes, barely discernable).
His identity unknown, the so-called Spanish Forger was active in painting 'medieval' miniatures in Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries (see W. Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, New York, 1987). Although a number of panels and manuscripts are attributed to him, the Forger is mainly known from leaves and cuttings. Painted on segments of vellum from 14th- to 16th-century choirbooks, scraped to provide a new surface, the Forger's works gain athenticity through appearing worn and aged, with signs of abrasion. An illuminator rather than a copyist, he created original compositions executed in his own distinctive style. The present miniature is a fine example, displaying the Forger's narrative vocabulary: the theatrical positioning and gestures of the figures, the stage-like quality of the architecture, stylised landscape and the muted range of colours. The composition is similar to Voelkle P8 and P33.
[Paris, c.1900]
210 x 157mm. Arch-topped miniature showing a female saint crowning a knight kneeling before her with a wreath, her entourage behind, all standing before a castle, the knight accompanied by his courtiers and soldiers, a boat on the sea in the distance, the whole within a baguette-border, painted on vellum and illuminated with burnished gold; the verso with 4 lines of music of square notation on a 5-line red stave and text in a large gothic hand in brown ink (small areas of loss to gold, some surface abrasion with tiny losses of pigment, a few tiny holes, barely discernable).
His identity unknown, the so-called Spanish Forger was active in painting 'medieval' miniatures in Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries (see W. Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, New York, 1987). Although a number of panels and manuscripts are attributed to him, the Forger is mainly known from leaves and cuttings. Painted on segments of vellum from 14th- to 16th-century choirbooks, scraped to provide a new surface, the Forger's works gain athenticity through appearing worn and aged, with signs of abrasion. An illuminator rather than a copyist, he created original compositions executed in his own distinctive style. The present miniature is a fine example, displaying the Forger's narrative vocabulary: the theatrical positioning and gestures of the figures, the stage-like quality of the architecture, stylised landscape and the muted range of colours. The composition is similar to Voelkle P8 and P33.
Special notice
This lot will be subject to VAT at the rate of 17.5% on the buyer's premium.