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Details
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS IN A GARDEN, one leaf with miniature
174 x 130mm. Within a garden, the Virgin supports the Christ Child who fetches cherries from the nearer of two angels, miniature above five lines opening the Quinze joyes, the Fifteen Joys of the Virgin; on the verso, one small illuminated initial and line-ending within full border (some cockling of vellum, water damage to borders and text, in miniature small paint losses mostly in flesh and Virgin's robe, slight smudging of diaper background). Cardboard mount. Provenance: still bound with the rest of the manuscript in the Chester Beatty Sale, Sotheby's, 24 June 1969, lot 58, this leaf was f.96; bought by Alan Thomas, miniature and text leaves were gradually sold separately.
As a place of pleasure and beauty associated with love, a garden was a fitting setting for the Virgin and Child, particularly so because the Song of Songs, the great love poem of the Old Testament full of garden imagery, was understood to symbolise the mystical union of Christ and the Virgin. Mastery of landscape is associated more with the Boucicaut Master than with the Mazarine Master, who showed a greater interest in the depiction of architectural interiors. Here the meticulous observation of the fall of light on the three surfaces of the flowery hedge, with the shadow it casts on the left, creates a convincing and delightful space, further articulated by the placing of the figures and the implied movement of the toddling Child. This enchanting miniature conveys both the human relationship of mother and child and their divine significance.
174 x 130mm. Within a garden, the Virgin supports the Christ Child who fetches cherries from the nearer of two angels, miniature above five lines opening the Quinze joyes, the Fifteen Joys of the Virgin; on the verso, one small illuminated initial and line-ending within full border (some cockling of vellum, water damage to borders and text, in miniature small paint losses mostly in flesh and Virgin's robe, slight smudging of diaper background). Cardboard mount. Provenance: still bound with the rest of the manuscript in the Chester Beatty Sale, Sotheby's, 24 June 1969, lot 58, this leaf was f.96; bought by Alan Thomas, miniature and text leaves were gradually sold separately.
As a place of pleasure and beauty associated with love, a garden was a fitting setting for the Virgin and Child, particularly so because the Song of Songs, the great love poem of the Old Testament full of garden imagery, was understood to symbolise the mystical union of Christ and the Virgin. Mastery of landscape is associated more with the Boucicaut Master than with the Mazarine Master, who showed a greater interest in the depiction of architectural interiors. Here the meticulous observation of the fall of light on the three surfaces of the flowery hedge, with the shadow it casts on the left, creates a convincing and delightful space, further articulated by the placing of the figures and the implied movement of the toddling Child. This enchanting miniature conveys both the human relationship of mother and child and their divine significance.
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