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Details
CRUCIFIXION, Canonical miniature from a Missal, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Paris, c.1260]
249 x 191mm. Christ on the Cross between the lamenting Virgin and John the Evangelist, all beneath a trefoil-headed arch, the apex extending beyond the miniature frame and showing a tiled roof and turrets behind, an incised gold ground above the figure of Christ and behind the Cross, a checkered blue ground behind the Virgin and a pink ground behind John the Evangelist, Christ with a cross-nimbed orange halo, the Virgin and John with burnished gold haloes, above the arms of the cross the sun and moon emerging from clouds, all painted in pink, light and dark blue, orange and pale flesh tones, the cross and architectural detailing in green, the outer frame of monochrome-patterned bands of blue and pink within fillets of orange and green (discolouration of the gold, some rubbing and slight creasing, the faces retouched).
This is an illumination of the highest quality most probably painted in Paris at the time of St Louis. The simple firm contours demonstrate the extraordinary elegance and accomplishment of the artist. The figure of Christ and the general composition of the miniature - framed beneath a trefoil arch with a tiled roof and turrets above, a divided chequered ground behind - is close to that of the St Denis Missal (Paris, B.N., Latin 1107) which Robert Branner suggested may have been commissioned around 1260: Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, p.132, fig.389.
[Paris, c.1260]
249 x 191mm. Christ on the Cross between the lamenting Virgin and John the Evangelist, all beneath a trefoil-headed arch, the apex extending beyond the miniature frame and showing a tiled roof and turrets behind, an incised gold ground above the figure of Christ and behind the Cross, a checkered blue ground behind the Virgin and a pink ground behind John the Evangelist, Christ with a cross-nimbed orange halo, the Virgin and John with burnished gold haloes, above the arms of the cross the sun and moon emerging from clouds, all painted in pink, light and dark blue, orange and pale flesh tones, the cross and architectural detailing in green, the outer frame of monochrome-patterned bands of blue and pink within fillets of orange and green (discolouration of the gold, some rubbing and slight creasing, the faces retouched).
This is an illumination of the highest quality most probably painted in Paris at the time of St Louis. The simple firm contours demonstrate the extraordinary elegance and accomplishment of the artist. The figure of Christ and the general composition of the miniature - framed beneath a trefoil arch with a tiled roof and turrets above, a divided chequered ground behind - is close to that of the St Denis Missal (Paris, B.N., Latin 1107) which Robert Branner suggested may have been commissioned around 1260: Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, p.132, fig.389.