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THE DEATH OF SAINT DOMINIC, Large historiated initial 'M' on a leaf from an ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT CHOIR BOOK ON VELLUM
[Bologna, ca. 1265]
Leaf 525 x 373mm; initial 215 x 170mm. The body of St.Dominic lying on a bed, surrounded by two bishops and 14 monks. One of the bishops is waving a censer above the body. Below the bed are five figures, possibly representing the poor mourning his death. In the centre of the initial, the saint is climbing up a ladder, held by the crowned Virgin and Christ, who are waiting to receive him. The initial has a very striking palette of pink, orange, green and blue with foliate decoration on dark blue ground. In each outer corner is a roundel containing a portrait of a Dominican friar. Surrounded by six lines of music on 4 red ruled staves, text in brown ink in a large gothic rotunda, similarly on verso. The folio is numbered 49 in a later hand. The incipit is the Response for the first night of the office of the Feast of St.Dominic, Mundum vocans ad agni nuptias'
St.Dominic Guzman, founder of the order of Preachers, died in 1221 and was canonized in 1234. His relics were elevated in 1233 and are now at the monastery of San Domenico in Bologna. After his death Fra Guala de Brescia, a Dominican friar had a vision of St.Dominic ascending to heaven on a ladder supported by the Virgin and Christ and the present miniature must be one of the earliest representations of this scene. It is contemporary with the 'Arca' the shrine of San Domenico in Bologna, of which six panels were sculpted by Niccolo Pisano.
This is a very grand composition from the earliest period of Bolognese illumination by a workshop named 'Miniatori bolognesi del primo stile'. These artists influenced by romanesque and byzantine tradition, were responsible for a number of choir books made for the Convento di San Domenico, now in the Museo Civico di Bologna. This makes it a particularly interesting provenance for the present miniature, as the relics of St.Dominic are at San Domenico. A. Conti, La Miniatura Bolognese: Scuole e botteghe 1270-1340 (1981), p.22, illustration 14, cites as one example Museo Civico ms 516, a choir book by a master who is very agile with narrative effects. The same workshop may also have been responsible for a Bible in the Bibliothèque Nationale, ms Lat.22, described by F.Avril in Dix siècles d'enluminure italienne (Paris 1984). This was copied by two friars Cardinale and Rugerino da Forli and can be dated about 1267, as some decretals from the same shop of the same date. Another Bible, MS JA 7345 from the Abbey Collection (sold at Sotheby's 19 June 1989, lot 3013) is probably related and shows some of the characteristics of this workshop.
[Bologna, ca. 1265]
Leaf 525 x 373mm; initial 215 x 170mm. The body of St.Dominic lying on a bed, surrounded by two bishops and 14 monks. One of the bishops is waving a censer above the body. Below the bed are five figures, possibly representing the poor mourning his death. In the centre of the initial, the saint is climbing up a ladder, held by the crowned Virgin and Christ, who are waiting to receive him. The initial has a very striking palette of pink, orange, green and blue with foliate decoration on dark blue ground. In each outer corner is a roundel containing a portrait of a Dominican friar. Surrounded by six lines of music on 4 red ruled staves, text in brown ink in a large gothic rotunda, similarly on verso. The folio is numbered 49 in a later hand. The incipit is the Response for the first night of the office of the Feast of St.Dominic, Mundum vocans ad agni nuptias'
St.Dominic Guzman, founder of the order of Preachers, died in 1221 and was canonized in 1234. His relics were elevated in 1233 and are now at the monastery of San Domenico in Bologna. After his death Fra Guala de Brescia, a Dominican friar had a vision of St.Dominic ascending to heaven on a ladder supported by the Virgin and Christ and the present miniature must be one of the earliest representations of this scene. It is contemporary with the 'Arca' the shrine of San Domenico in Bologna, of which six panels were sculpted by Niccolo Pisano.
This is a very grand composition from the earliest period of Bolognese illumination by a workshop named 'Miniatori bolognesi del primo stile'. These artists influenced by romanesque and byzantine tradition, were responsible for a number of choir books made for the Convento di San Domenico, now in the Museo Civico di Bologna. This makes it a particularly interesting provenance for the present miniature, as the relics of St.Dominic are at San Domenico. A. Conti, La Miniatura Bolognese: Scuole e botteghe 1270-1340 (1981), p.22, illustration 14, cites as one example Museo Civico ms 516, a choir book by a master who is very agile with narrative effects. The same workshop may also have been responsible for a Bible in the Bibliothèque Nationale, ms Lat.22, described by F.Avril in Dix siècles d'enluminure italienne (Paris 1984). This was copied by two friars Cardinale and Rugerino da Forli and can be dated about 1267, as some decretals from the same shop of the same date. Another Bible, MS JA 7345 from the Abbey Collection (sold at Sotheby's 19 June 1989, lot 3013) is probably related and shows some of the characteristics of this workshop.