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The Mass of St Gregory, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours [Paris, c.1415-20]
Details
Master of the Harvard Hannibal (fl.1415-1450)
The Mass of St Gregory, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours [Paris, c.1415-20]
A new and early iconographic witness to the popularity of Gregory's vision of Christ as Man of Sorrows in Parisian art, and an important addition to the oeuvre of the Master of the Harvard Hannibal.
161 x 112mm. The miniature with Christ as Man of Sorrows surrounded by the instruments of the Passion opening the Passion according to St John, verso with 15 lines and single border (very slight water damage with retrouching to blue background, not affecting the figures). Window mount. Provenance: Hartung & Hartung, 13-15 May 2003, lot 35.
The miniature has been attributed by François Avril to the Master of the Harvard Hannibal, and is an important addition to his early work. The Master was named by the art historian Millard Meiss after the his work on the frontispiece miniature depicting the Coronation of Hannibal in volume II of Livy's Les Décades, Houghton Library, MS Richardson 32 (on this manuscript, see R. Wieck, Late Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts in the Houghton Library, 1350-1525, 1983, pp.10-13, no 5). A follower of the Boucicaut Master, with whom he collaborated on the Houghton Livy and an illustrated Boccaccio in Lisbon (Gulbenkian Foundation, MS L.A.143), we see echoes of this influence in the present miniature in the face of the angel supporting Christ, and in the figure of the kneeling Gregory. His work demonstrates a fondness for pure, bright colors, rich pattern and decorative accessories. The composition, interestingly introducing the Passion according to St John, is an early testament to the emerging popularity of this early medieval legend in Parisian artistic culture at the turn of the 15th century (we see another example on f.20 of the Durrieu Hours, datable to c.1415-20, see J.M. Plotzek, Ars Viviendi, Ars Moriendi, 1998, no 5, p.125).
The Mass of St Gregory, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours [Paris, c.1415-20]
A new and early iconographic witness to the popularity of Gregory's vision of Christ as Man of Sorrows in Parisian art, and an important addition to the oeuvre of the Master of the Harvard Hannibal.
161 x 112mm. The miniature with Christ as Man of Sorrows surrounded by the instruments of the Passion opening the Passion according to St John, verso with 15 lines and single border (very slight water damage with retrouching to blue background, not affecting the figures). Window mount. Provenance: Hartung & Hartung, 13-15 May 2003, lot 35.
The miniature has been attributed by François Avril to the Master of the Harvard Hannibal, and is an important addition to his early work. The Master was named by the art historian Millard Meiss after the his work on the frontispiece miniature depicting the Coronation of Hannibal in volume II of Livy's Les Décades, Houghton Library, MS Richardson 32 (on this manuscript, see R. Wieck, Late Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts in the Houghton Library, 1350-1525, 1983, pp.10-13, no 5). A follower of the Boucicaut Master, with whom he collaborated on the Houghton Livy and an illustrated Boccaccio in Lisbon (Gulbenkian Foundation, MS L.A.143), we see echoes of this influence in the present miniature in the face of the angel supporting Christ, and in the figure of the kneeling Gregory. His work demonstrates a fondness for pure, bright colors, rich pattern and decorative accessories. The composition, interestingly introducing the Passion according to St John, is an early testament to the emerging popularity of this early medieval legend in Parisian artistic culture at the turn of the 15th century (we see another example on f.20 of the Durrieu Hours, datable to c.1415-20, see J.M. Plotzek, Ars Viviendi, Ars Moriendi, 1998, no 5, p.125).
Special notice
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