Property from
THE IAN WOODNER FAMILY COLLECTION
LIPPO VANNI, artist (fl. 1341-1375). Saint Blaise. LARGE HISTORIATED INITIAL "I" CUT FROM AN ANTIPHONAL ON VELLUM. [Siena, c. 1370?].
Details
LIPPO VANNI, artist (fl. 1341-1375). Saint Blaise. LARGE HISTORIATED INITIAL "I" CUT FROM AN ANTIPHONAL ON VELLUM. [Siena, c. 1370?].
298 x 115mm. (11 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.), cut to shape, the initial in pink and blue with white penwork tracery on a burnished gold ground. The martyred saint standing holding a sword and palm, another sword piercing his neck (a reference to his subsequent beheading), stones on his head, and at his feet a fire with the metal comb or brush (the instrument of Blaise's martyrdom and his most common attribute); cut close with some loss of leafy extensions, pinholes at corners, slight rubbing and flaking, matted.
This fine initial is from the same antiphonal as a group of miniatures purchased by Lord Kenneth Clark in the thirties from a private collection; having remained until the sale of Lord Clark's collection in private hands, the attribution of these miniatures to Lippo Vanni was not made until recently. "Although the cult of Blaise spread throughout western Europe...the inclusion of a grand miniature of the saint in a Sienese Choirbook could provide clues to the destination of the original manuscript. Blaise was specially venerated in Ortebello, a small seaside town about sixty miles southwest of Siena, where the major portion of his head minus the lower jawbone was the princiapl relic of the church...Could it be that, lacking an indigenous tradition of luxury art production but eager to possess a Choirbook grand enough to commemorate properly their chief relic, the officials of the chruch at Ortebello ordered a deluxe Antiphonal from the nearby centre of the arts, Siena?"--Ferrini and Fogg, Medieval and Renaissance Miniature Painting, Akron and London 1988, no. 10.
Provenance: James Dennistoun (1803-1855)?; inherited by Dennistoun's granddaughter, Mrs. Hensley Henson?; purchased c. 1936 by Lord Kenneth Clark, Saltwood Castle, Kent (sale, Sotheby's London, 3 July 1984, part lot 87); with Bruce Ferrini and Sam Fogg (see above); Ian Woodner.
298 x 115mm. (11 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.), cut to shape, the initial in pink and blue with white penwork tracery on a burnished gold ground. The martyred saint standing holding a sword and palm, another sword piercing his neck (a reference to his subsequent beheading), stones on his head, and at his feet a fire with the metal comb or brush (the instrument of Blaise's martyrdom and his most common attribute); cut close with some loss of leafy extensions, pinholes at corners, slight rubbing and flaking, matted.
This fine initial is from the same antiphonal as a group of miniatures purchased by Lord Kenneth Clark in the thirties from a private collection; having remained until the sale of Lord Clark's collection in private hands, the attribution of these miniatures to Lippo Vanni was not made until recently. "Although the cult of Blaise spread throughout western Europe...the inclusion of a grand miniature of the saint in a Sienese Choirbook could provide clues to the destination of the original manuscript. Blaise was specially venerated in Ortebello, a small seaside town about sixty miles southwest of Siena, where the major portion of his head minus the lower jawbone was the princiapl relic of the church...Could it be that, lacking an indigenous tradition of luxury art production but eager to possess a Choirbook grand enough to commemorate properly their chief relic, the officials of the chruch at Ortebello ordered a deluxe Antiphonal from the nearby centre of the arts, Siena?"--Ferrini and Fogg, Medieval and Renaissance Miniature Painting, Akron and London 1988, no. 10.
Provenance: James Dennistoun (1803-1855)?; inherited by Dennistoun's granddaughter, Mrs. Hensley Henson?; purchased c. 1936 by Lord Kenneth Clark, Saltwood Castle, Kent (sale, Sotheby's London, 3 July 1984, part lot 87); with Bruce Ferrini and Sam Fogg (see above); Ian Woodner.