![A LADY AND A KNIGHT, historiated initial 'D' on a cutting from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [France, c.1900]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0041_000(a_lady_and_a_knight_historiated_initial_d_on_a_cutting_from_an_illumin094522).jpg?w=1)
細節
A LADY AND A KNIGHT, historiated initial 'D' on a cutting from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [France, c.1900]
A lively example of the 'medieval fakes' produced by the eminently collectable anonymous artist known as 'the Spanish Forger'.
230 x 230mm. Framed.
Provenance:
Description on verso: no 192 from a catalogue.
His identity unknown, the so-called Spanish Forger was active in painting 'medieval' miniatures in Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries (see W. Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, 1987). Although a number of panels and manuscripts are attributed to him, the Forger is mainly known from leaves and cuttings. Painted on cuttings of vellum from 14th- to 16th-century choirbooks, scraped to provide a new surface, the Forger's works gain authenticity through appearing worn and aged, with signs of abrasion. An illuminator rather than a copyist, he created original compositions executed in his own distinctive style. The present miniature is a fine example, displaying the Forger's narrative vocabulary: the theatrical positioning and gestures of the figures, the stage-like quality of the architecture, stylised landscape and the muted range of colours. The cutting is from Voelkle's 'stock A' (W. Voekle, p.75). It is compositionally similar to L22-23 and L96-97, while the narrative seems to pick up from P.19 and P.26 in Voelkle's catalogue (described as 'The Betrothal of St Ursula').
A lively example of the 'medieval fakes' produced by the eminently collectable anonymous artist known as 'the Spanish Forger'.
230 x 230mm. Framed.
Provenance:
Description on verso: no 192 from a catalogue.
His identity unknown, the so-called Spanish Forger was active in painting 'medieval' miniatures in Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries (see W. Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, 1987). Although a number of panels and manuscripts are attributed to him, the Forger is mainly known from leaves and cuttings. Painted on cuttings of vellum from 14th- to 16th-century choirbooks, scraped to provide a new surface, the Forger's works gain authenticity through appearing worn and aged, with signs of abrasion. An illuminator rather than a copyist, he created original compositions executed in his own distinctive style. The present miniature is a fine example, displaying the Forger's narrative vocabulary: the theatrical positioning and gestures of the figures, the stage-like quality of the architecture, stylised landscape and the muted range of colours. The cutting is from Voelkle's 'stock A' (W. Voekle, p.75). It is compositionally similar to L22-23 and L96-97, while the narrative seems to pick up from P.19 and P.26 in Voelkle's catalogue (described as 'The Betrothal of St Ursula').
榮譽呈獻
Robert Tyrwhitt