![MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, c.1450s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10457_0019_000(massacre_of_the_innocents_miniature_on_a_leaf_from_a_book_of_hours_ill100831).jpg?w=1)
Details
MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, c.1450s].
162 x 120mm. The text opening Vespers of the Hours of the Virgin, blank on reverse (small losses of pigment to the miniature, e.g. to Herod's face). Mounted on card. Provenance: (1) The illumination, the borders and the composition of the miniature, with Herod at his throne witnessing the Massacre of the Innocents, indicate that this is a Bruges production of the mid-15th century. (2) Bequest of GWYNNE M. ANDREWS, 1930, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The illumination is the late and attractive work of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, one of the leading groups of artists working primarily in Bruges c.1420-1450. The colours used are varied and intense and combine to rich visual effect, while the features of the figures are rendered with a few delicate brushstrokes. The present leaf is stylistically similar to a Book of Hours in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 80 (see N. Morgan and S. Panayotova, eds., Illuminated Manuscripts in Cambridge, I, ii, pp.85-86).
162 x 120mm. The text opening Vespers of the Hours of the Virgin, blank on reverse (small losses of pigment to the miniature, e.g. to Herod's face). Mounted on card. Provenance: (1) The illumination, the borders and the composition of the miniature, with Herod at his throne witnessing the Massacre of the Innocents, indicate that this is a Bruges production of the mid-15th century. (2) Bequest of GWYNNE M. ANDREWS, 1930, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The illumination is the late and attractive work of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, one of the leading groups of artists working primarily in Bruges c.1420-1450. The colours used are varied and intense and combine to rich visual effect, while the features of the figures are rendered with a few delicate brushstrokes. The present leaf is stylistically similar to a Book of Hours in Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 80 (see N. Morgan and S. Panayotova, eds., Illuminated Manuscripts in Cambridge, I, ii, pp.85-86).
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