.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
The Collection of The Hon. Patrick and Lady Amabel Lindsay
Master of the Codice Squarcialupi (Matteo Torelli)
Isaiah prophesying the coming of Christ, historiated initial 'A' on a leaf from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Italy, Florence, c.1405]
Details
Master of the Codice Squarcialupi (Matteo Torelli)
Isaiah prophesying the coming of Christ, historiated initial 'A' on a leaf from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Italy, Florence, c.1405]
A sumptuous leaf by the Master of the Codice Squarcialupi, identifiable as Matteo Torelli, a Florentine illuminator influenced by the school of Santa Maria degli Angeli who worked in close collaboration with Lorenzo Monaco.
559 x 367mm. Initial 'A' with Christ blessing in the upper section holding an open book; Isaiah below in prayer, opening the responsory for the first Sunday of Advent, 'Aspiciens a longe ecce video dei potentiam', 6 lines of text and music on a four-line red stave, all within a full floral border incorporating birds and an eagle displayed crowned with a prelate's hat above, reverse with one large initial in red with blue penwork decoration, old ink foliation '5' in upper right margin (some cockling and staining, especially to margins, a few losses of pigment and smudges to the scrolling acanthus, some minor losses to the burnished gold of the initial, a few small creases, the text somewhat faded, the miniature generally in excellent condition).
Provenance:
(1) The attribution to Matteo Torelli, or the Master of the Codice Squarcialupi anchors the leaf to Florence at the beginning of the 15th century. It is particularly close to a leaf from a Psalter (see below) produced for the library of the Vallombrosians of Santa Verdiana: it could perhaps be a leaf from the series of choirbooks commissioned at around this time for the order.
(2) Martin Breslauer, Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, from the fourteenth to the present century, cat. 97, 1963, no 1, there attributed to Don Simone Camaldolese, illustrated on front cover. Acquired by:
(3) David Alexander Robert Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres (1900-1975), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the Arts, trustee of the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery, the British Museum, Chairman of the National Trust and Premier Earl of Scotland.
(4) The Collection of The Hon. Patrick and Lady Amabel Lindsay.
Illumination:
The illumination is attributable to the artist responsible for several of the miniatures in the Codice Squarcialupi at the Laurenziana in Florence, MS Mediceo Palatino 87, identified by Freuler and others as Matteo Torelli (see G.Freuler, 'Miscellanea di Miniature Italiane', I Fondi oro della Collezione Alberto Crespi al Museo Diocesano di Milano: questioni iconografiche e attributive. Atti della giornata di Studi 11 ottobre 2004, 2009, pp.76-85). His style is indebted to the work of the scriptorium of Santa Maria degli Angeli under Lorenzo Monaco, with whom he collaborated on a number of choirbooks, particularly in the rich marginal acanthus decoration (for example the choirbook produced at Santa Maria degli Angeli for Sant' Egidio di Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, now Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Ms E 70). And it is the rich marginal foliate decoration in the present leaf that is particularly characteristic of his style: the bright blue, green and orange-red acanthus margins incorporating fantastical birds are found also in the Missal of Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS 30. Identical motifs are found in the splendid leaf from a Psalter attributed to the artist, described and illustrated by Freuler (2009, p.79), currently in a private Swiss collection: the human face peeking through the cluster of acanthus leaves found to the right of the initial 'B' in that manuscript is also found in ours. The Master's faces are finely modelled, with long, straight, defined noses and narrow, attentive eyes: parallels are found in the aforementioned leaf from a Psalter, but also in a historiated initial 'H' with St Anne holding the Virgin, Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Corale 10, f.115 and in the angel in the border of Laurenziana, Corale 7, f.36.
Isaiah prophesying the coming of Christ, historiated initial 'A' on a leaf from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Italy, Florence, c.1405]
A sumptuous leaf by the Master of the Codice Squarcialupi, identifiable as Matteo Torelli, a Florentine illuminator influenced by the school of Santa Maria degli Angeli who worked in close collaboration with Lorenzo Monaco.
559 x 367mm. Initial 'A' with Christ blessing in the upper section holding an open book; Isaiah below in prayer, opening the responsory for the first Sunday of Advent, 'Aspiciens a longe ecce video dei potentiam', 6 lines of text and music on a four-line red stave, all within a full floral border incorporating birds and an eagle displayed crowned with a prelate's hat above, reverse with one large initial in red with blue penwork decoration, old ink foliation '5' in upper right margin (some cockling and staining, especially to margins, a few losses of pigment and smudges to the scrolling acanthus, some minor losses to the burnished gold of the initial, a few small creases, the text somewhat faded, the miniature generally in excellent condition).
Provenance:
(1) The attribution to Matteo Torelli, or the Master of the Codice Squarcialupi anchors the leaf to Florence at the beginning of the 15th century. It is particularly close to a leaf from a Psalter (see below) produced for the library of the Vallombrosians of Santa Verdiana: it could perhaps be a leaf from the series of choirbooks commissioned at around this time for the order.
(2) Martin Breslauer, Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, from the fourteenth to the present century, cat. 97, 1963, no 1, there attributed to Don Simone Camaldolese, illustrated on front cover. Acquired by:
(3) David Alexander Robert Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres (1900-1975), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the Arts, trustee of the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery, the British Museum, Chairman of the National Trust and Premier Earl of Scotland.
(4) The Collection of The Hon. Patrick and Lady Amabel Lindsay.
Illumination:
The illumination is attributable to the artist responsible for several of the miniatures in the Codice Squarcialupi at the Laurenziana in Florence, MS Mediceo Palatino 87, identified by Freuler and others as Matteo Torelli (see G.Freuler, 'Miscellanea di Miniature Italiane', I Fondi oro della Collezione Alberto Crespi al Museo Diocesano di Milano: questioni iconografiche e attributive. Atti della giornata di Studi 11 ottobre 2004, 2009, pp.76-85). His style is indebted to the work of the scriptorium of Santa Maria degli Angeli under Lorenzo Monaco, with whom he collaborated on a number of choirbooks, particularly in the rich marginal acanthus decoration (for example the choirbook produced at Santa Maria degli Angeli for Sant' Egidio di Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, now Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Ms E 70). And it is the rich marginal foliate decoration in the present leaf that is particularly characteristic of his style: the bright blue, green and orange-red acanthus margins incorporating fantastical birds are found also in the Missal of Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS 30. Identical motifs are found in the splendid leaf from a Psalter attributed to the artist, described and illustrated by Freuler (2009, p.79), currently in a private Swiss collection: the human face peeking through the cluster of acanthus leaves found to the right of the initial 'B' in that manuscript is also found in ours. The Master's faces are finely modelled, with long, straight, defined noses and narrow, attentive eyes: parallels are found in the aforementioned leaf from a Psalter, but also in a historiated initial 'H' with St Anne holding the Virgin, Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Corale 10, f.115 and in the angel in the border of Laurenziana, Corale 7, f.36.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts