![NOAH SHEPHERDING THE ANIMALS and CONSTRUCTING THE ARK, roundels on a cutting from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Florence, c.1490]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0008_001(noah_shepherding_the_animals_and_constructing_the_ark_roundels_on_a_cu053321).jpg?w=1)
![NOAH SHEPHERDING THE ANIMALS and CONSTRUCTING THE ARK, roundels on a cutting from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Florence, c.1490]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0008_000(noah_shepherding_the_animals_and_constructing_the_ark_roundels_on_a_cu070405).jpg?w=1)
Details
NOAH SHEPHERDING THE ANIMALS and CONSTRUCTING THE ARK, roundels on a cutting from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Florence, c.1490]
Two rarely-depicted Biblical scenes from what would have been a monumental deluxe codex, painted by the brothers Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni del Fora, two of the leading Florentine illuminators of the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
222x 113mm. The cutting from a border of a monumental choirbook (three fine scalpel cuts to roundel depicting Noah shepherding the animals, some rubbing, flaking and craquelure to the burnished gold, especially in right-hand margin, revealing parchment). Gilt frame.
The illumination is the work of Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni (di Miniato) del Fora. From the 1460s they illuminated liturgical books for Florentine churches, and in the 1480s they decorated several luxurious manuscripts for the library of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. After Gherardo's death, Monte continued to work on similar commissions, including a series of choirbooks illuminated between 1514 and 1521 for the Duomo of Florence. Their regular collaboration often makes it difficult to discern which hand is at work (see A. Garzelli, Miniatura fiorentina del rinascimento 1440-1525, 1985, II, pp.524-647). In the present cutting, we see Monte's characteristic technique in the fine modelling of Noah's garment, face and beard, minutely and skilfully rendered, and reminiscent of his depiction of St Mark in a manuscript in Florence, Museo Nazionale, ms. 67, f.150v. But Gherardo's influence is evident too: the format of the border decoration, with its lavish gilding and Renaissance motifs with pearls recalls that of a luxurious Psalter now in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, ms. add. 37-1970 (see in particular f.2, and the roundel depicting the Nativity).
Two rarely-depicted Biblical scenes from what would have been a monumental deluxe codex, painted by the brothers Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni del Fora, two of the leading Florentine illuminators of the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
222x 113mm. The cutting from a border of a monumental choirbook (three fine scalpel cuts to roundel depicting Noah shepherding the animals, some rubbing, flaking and craquelure to the burnished gold, especially in right-hand margin, revealing parchment). Gilt frame.
The illumination is the work of Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni (di Miniato) del Fora. From the 1460s they illuminated liturgical books for Florentine churches, and in the 1480s they decorated several luxurious manuscripts for the library of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. After Gherardo's death, Monte continued to work on similar commissions, including a series of choirbooks illuminated between 1514 and 1521 for the Duomo of Florence. Their regular collaboration often makes it difficult to discern which hand is at work (see A. Garzelli, Miniatura fiorentina del rinascimento 1440-1525, 1985, II, pp.524-647). In the present cutting, we see Monte's characteristic technique in the fine modelling of Noah's garment, face and beard, minutely and skilfully rendered, and reminiscent of his depiction of St Mark in a manuscript in Florence, Museo Nazionale, ms. 67, f.150v. But Gherardo's influence is evident too: the format of the border decoration, with its lavish gilding and Renaissance motifs with pearls recalls that of a luxurious Psalter now in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, ms. add. 37-1970 (see in particular f.2, and the roundel depicting the Nativity).
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