.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
The Collection of Alfred and Felicie Scharf
Follower of the Glasgow Master
The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi, two full-page miniatures from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [eastern France, Picardy, Amiens?, c.1440]
Details
Follower of the Glasgow Master
The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi, two full-page miniatures from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [eastern France, Picardy, Amiens?, c.1440]
A charming pair of Picard miniatures: a fusion of eastern French and Flemish illumination.
c.160 x 120mm., two leaves, each with a full-page arched miniature with diaper background and gold ivy-leaf border, (a) The Nativity with the radiant infant on the ground, a handmaid behind the Virgin, Joseph as an old man with walking-stick and candle, and (b) the Three Kings presenting their gifts to the infant who sits on his mother’s lap, Joseph in the background apparently removing his hat in the presence of royalty (somewhat abraded and rubbed). Mounted and framed.
Illumination:
The style of illumination is by a charming follower of the Picard painter of a Book of Hours for Thérouanne use at Glasgow University Library, Euing MS 40 (see S. Nash, Between France and Flanders: Manuscript Illumination in Amiens in the fifteenth century, 1999, no 12, figs. 57, 80, 165, 201), who also illuminated a Book of Hours for Amiens use sold at Christie's, 4 June 2008, lot 48. The Glasgow Hours were painted in the 1450s-60s, and we find compositional parallels with, for example, the corresponding miniature of the Adoration of the Magi (f.49), but the diapered backdrops in our two miniatures and the absence of enclosing rules around the two borders suggest an earlier date in the 1440s.
We are grateful to Gregory Clark for his help in identifying the artist.
The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi, two full-page miniatures from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [eastern France, Picardy, Amiens?, c.1440]
A charming pair of Picard miniatures: a fusion of eastern French and Flemish illumination.
c.160 x 120mm., two leaves, each with a full-page arched miniature with diaper background and gold ivy-leaf border, (a) The Nativity with the radiant infant on the ground, a handmaid behind the Virgin, Joseph as an old man with walking-stick and candle, and (b) the Three Kings presenting their gifts to the infant who sits on his mother’s lap, Joseph in the background apparently removing his hat in the presence of royalty (somewhat abraded and rubbed). Mounted and framed.
Illumination:
The style of illumination is by a charming follower of the Picard painter of a Book of Hours for Thérouanne use at Glasgow University Library, Euing MS 40 (see S. Nash, Between France and Flanders: Manuscript Illumination in Amiens in the fifteenth century, 1999, no 12, figs. 57, 80, 165, 201), who also illuminated a Book of Hours for Amiens use sold at Christie's, 4 June 2008, lot 48. The Glasgow Hours were painted in the 1450s-60s, and we find compositional parallels with, for example, the corresponding miniature of the Adoration of the Magi (f.49), but the diapered backdrops in our two miniatures and the absence of enclosing rules around the two borders suggest an earlier date in the 1440s.
We are grateful to Gregory Clark for his help in identifying the artist.
Brought to you by
Thomas Venning
Head of Department, Books and Manuscripts