Lippo Vanni
The Massacre of the Innocents, historiated initial 'E' on a leaf from a Gradual, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1360-70]
Details
Lippo Vanni
The Massacre of the Innocents, historiated initial 'E' on a leaf from a Gradual, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1360-70]
A dramatic leaf from a known choirbook by one of the most successful Sienese painters of the 14th century, Lippo Vanni.
550 x 380mm. The initial ‘E’ opening the matins antiphon ‘Ex ore infancium deus’ for the feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December), 7 lines of text and music on four-line red staves, verso with an original cropped folio number in red ink ‘[...]xvj.’ (the initial slightly rubbed with a few losses to the burnished gold, the soldier's face lightly scored).
Provenance:
(1) Sister leaves from the parent choirbook are dispersed among several European and American collections, including four at the Rijksmuseum RP-T-1937.5-7 and 1948.713; one in Utrecht, Rijksmuseum het Catharijneconvent, inv.no. 113; two recorded in 1976 as being in the collection of Prof. J.Q. van Regteren Altena of Amsterdam; two at the Philadelphia Free Library, Lewis E M 69:12-13; one at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 35.95.A (see Leaves of Gold, Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections, ed. J.R. Tanis, 2001, pp.170-72); and one sold at Christie's, 21 November 2012, lot 14, now in a private UK collection. Several of the leaves were in the famous Six Collection in Amsterdam, four of which were published for the first time by Raimond van Marle in 1929 (R. van Marle, 'Cinque miniature di Lippo Vanni', La Diana, 4 [1929], p.159ff.). The parent gradual likely found its way to the Netherlands at some point before it was broken up and its leaves dispersed (see H.W. van Os, 'Lippo Vanni as a miniaturist', Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, vol. 7, no 2 (1974), pp.67-90; Gaudenz Freuler lists further sister leaves in his entry for the artist in M. Bollati, ed., Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani, 2004, pp.396-7 and 'Ancora sulla miniatura senese dei secoli XIII -XV. Postille ad un libro (parte I)', Arte Cristiana, XCVII, no 854, 2009, pp.321-332.
(2) Sotheby's, 5 July 2016, lot 24.
Illumination:
The miniature is the work of Lippo Vanni, one of the foremost Sienese illuminators of the 14th century, influenced by Pietro Lorenzetti and closely linked to the Master of Sant'Eugenio, whose activity decorating series of choirbooks for churches in and around Siena can be documented from 1340 to 1375.
The Massacre of the Innocents, historiated initial 'E' on a leaf from a Gradual, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1360-70]
A dramatic leaf from a known choirbook by one of the most successful Sienese painters of the 14th century, Lippo Vanni.
550 x 380mm. The initial ‘E’ opening the matins antiphon ‘Ex ore infancium deus’ for the feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December), 7 lines of text and music on four-line red staves, verso with an original cropped folio number in red ink ‘[...]xvj.’ (the initial slightly rubbed with a few losses to the burnished gold, the soldier's face lightly scored).
Provenance:
(1) Sister leaves from the parent choirbook are dispersed among several European and American collections, including four at the Rijksmuseum RP-T-1937.5-7 and 1948.713; one in Utrecht, Rijksmuseum het Catharijneconvent, inv.no. 113; two recorded in 1976 as being in the collection of Prof. J.Q. van Regteren Altena of Amsterdam; two at the Philadelphia Free Library, Lewis E M 69:12-13; one at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 35.95.A (see Leaves of Gold, Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections, ed. J.R. Tanis, 2001, pp.170-72); and one sold at Christie's, 21 November 2012, lot 14, now in a private UK collection. Several of the leaves were in the famous Six Collection in Amsterdam, four of which were published for the first time by Raimond van Marle in 1929 (R. van Marle, 'Cinque miniature di Lippo Vanni', La Diana, 4 [1929], p.159ff.). The parent gradual likely found its way to the Netherlands at some point before it was broken up and its leaves dispersed (see H.W. van Os, 'Lippo Vanni as a miniaturist', Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, vol. 7, no 2 (1974), pp.67-90; Gaudenz Freuler lists further sister leaves in his entry for the artist in M. Bollati, ed., Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani, 2004, pp.396-7 and 'Ancora sulla miniatura senese dei secoli XIII -XV. Postille ad un libro (parte I)', Arte Cristiana, XCVII, no 854, 2009, pp.321-332.
(2) Sotheby's, 5 July 2016, lot 24.
Illumination:
The miniature is the work of Lippo Vanni, one of the foremost Sienese illuminators of the 14th century, influenced by Pietro Lorenzetti and closely linked to the Master of Sant'Eugenio, whose activity decorating series of choirbooks for churches in and around Siena can be documented from 1340 to 1375.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts