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The Adoration of the Magi, historiated initial 'D' on a leaf from a Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1400]
Details
Maestro delle Rivelazioni di Santa Brigida da Siena
The Adoration of the Magi, historiated initial 'D' on a leaf from a Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1400]
A leaf from a luxurious Sienese Missal, illuminated by an accomplished Master trained in the workshop of Lippo Vanni.
366 x 256mm. The historiated initial 'D' opening the prayer 'Deus qui hodierna die' on a leaf from a Missal, extending down the column and across the bottom of the page with a floral border incorporating faces, a bird and a butterfly, and across the top with budding flowers, 26 lines in two columns, contemporary foliation in red 'xviii', rubrics in red, initials alternately in red or blue with penwork flourishing of the contrasting colour, verso with 5 penwork initials and text for the Feast of the Epiphany.
Provenance:
(1) The parent manuscript was a sumptuous Sienese production of the turn of the 15th century. Three other sister leaves are known: two in the Ligabue Collection in Italy (see S. Marcon, Frammenti d'Arte: Miniature dalla Collezione Ligabue, 2009, nos 8-9) and another in a private collection in London.
(2) Jörn Günther Rare Books, Catalogue 8: Fifty Manuscripts and Miniatures, 2006, no 41, pp.132-133.
Illumination:
The illumination is the work of the artist responsible for Missal ms G.III.7 in Siena, Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati. He is named after a 1399 two-volume Liber celestis revelationum of Santa Brigida, now Siena, Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, mss I.IV.25-26 (see A. Labriola, C. De Benedictis and G. Freuler, La miniatura senese, 1270-1420, 2002, pp.334-335). The artist's slender, delicately rendered figures are firmly rooted in the traditions of the workshop of Lippo Vanni: according to Freuler his hand is partially recognisable in the frescoes of San Leonardo al Lago and San Pietro a Siena; in a Gradual at Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum, ms N.1928.117A.C.; and in two Gradual volumes in Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, Archivio del Capitolo di San Lorenzo, mss E, F (see G. Freuler, La miniatura senese, 2002, pp.178-180). The present leaf and its sisters are closely linked to the Missal in the Biblioteca degli Intronati in Siena: we see identically delicate figural forms and a bright palette of reds, greens and blues.
The Adoration of the Magi, historiated initial 'D' on a leaf from a Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1400]
A leaf from a luxurious Sienese Missal, illuminated by an accomplished Master trained in the workshop of Lippo Vanni.
366 x 256mm. The historiated initial 'D' opening the prayer 'Deus qui hodierna die' on a leaf from a Missal, extending down the column and across the bottom of the page with a floral border incorporating faces, a bird and a butterfly, and across the top with budding flowers, 26 lines in two columns, contemporary foliation in red 'xviii', rubrics in red, initials alternately in red or blue with penwork flourishing of the contrasting colour, verso with 5 penwork initials and text for the Feast of the Epiphany.
Provenance:
(1) The parent manuscript was a sumptuous Sienese production of the turn of the 15th century. Three other sister leaves are known: two in the Ligabue Collection in Italy (see S. Marcon, Frammenti d'Arte: Miniature dalla Collezione Ligabue, 2009, nos 8-9) and another in a private collection in London.
(2) Jörn Günther Rare Books, Catalogue 8: Fifty Manuscripts and Miniatures, 2006, no 41, pp.132-133.
Illumination:
The illumination is the work of the artist responsible for Missal ms G.III.7 in Siena, Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati. He is named after a 1399 two-volume Liber celestis revelationum of Santa Brigida, now Siena, Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, mss I.IV.25-26 (see A. Labriola, C. De Benedictis and G. Freuler, La miniatura senese, 1270-1420, 2002, pp.334-335). The artist's slender, delicately rendered figures are firmly rooted in the traditions of the workshop of Lippo Vanni: according to Freuler his hand is partially recognisable in the frescoes of San Leonardo al Lago and San Pietro a Siena; in a Gradual at Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum, ms N.1928.117A.C.; and in two Gradual volumes in Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, Archivio del Capitolo di San Lorenzo, mss E, F (see G. Freuler, La miniatura senese, 2002, pp.178-180). The present leaf and its sisters are closely linked to the Missal in the Biblioteca degli Intronati in Siena: we see identically delicate figural forms and a bright palette of reds, greens and blues.
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Emily Pilling
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