![DAVID IN PRAYER, initial ‘B’ cut from a Giant Psalter on vellum illuminated by Liberale da Verona (1441-1526) [Verona, 1490s]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14299_0012_000(david_in_prayer_initial_b_cut_from_a_giant_psalter_on_vellum_illuminat102001).jpg?w=1)
Details
DAVID IN PRAYER, initial ‘B’ cut from a Giant Psalter on vellum illuminated by Liberale da Verona (1441-1526) [Verona, 1490s]
A magnificent and sparkling example of the later work of one of the great illuminators and frescoists of the Italian Renaissance, Liberale da Verona, a pupil of Vincenzo di Stefano, strongly influenced by Andrea Mantegna, Girolamo da Cremona and Jacopo Bellini.
322 x 283mm. The initial ‘B’ opening Psalm 1, ‘Beatus vir qui non abiit in consil[io impiorum]’. Gilt frame.
A forceful and expressive artist, Liberale da Verona was active in Siena, Florence, Venice and Verona at a time of great artistic evolution. His changing style over the years is symptomatic of a progressive shift away from the late gothic tradition towards a more expressive, flamboyant and playful Renaissance vocabulary, exemplified in full in the early 16th century by Girolamo dai Libri. The present miniature is a product of his later years in Verona, and can be closely compared to an initial depicting John the Evangelist in the Museo di Castelvecchio (Verona, Biblioteca d'Arte del Museo di Castelvecchio, Inv. 4359): we see the same loose brushstrokes and palette, the same elongated hands and the same upturned bearded face with half-open mouth and eyes raised to the heavens.
A magnificent and sparkling example of the later work of one of the great illuminators and frescoists of the Italian Renaissance, Liberale da Verona, a pupil of Vincenzo di Stefano, strongly influenced by Andrea Mantegna, Girolamo da Cremona and Jacopo Bellini.
322 x 283mm. The initial ‘B’ opening Psalm 1, ‘Beatus vir qui non abiit in consil[io impiorum]’. Gilt frame.
A forceful and expressive artist, Liberale da Verona was active in Siena, Florence, Venice and Verona at a time of great artistic evolution. His changing style over the years is symptomatic of a progressive shift away from the late gothic tradition towards a more expressive, flamboyant and playful Renaissance vocabulary, exemplified in full in the early 16th century by Girolamo dai Libri. The present miniature is a product of his later years in Verona, and can be closely compared to an initial depicting John the Evangelist in the Museo di Castelvecchio (Verona, Biblioteca d'Arte del Museo di Castelvecchio, Inv. 4359): we see the same loose brushstrokes and palette, the same elongated hands and the same upturned bearded face with half-open mouth and eyes raised to the heavens.
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