Anonymous northeastern Italian artist
Anonymous northeastern Italian artist
Breviary, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northeastern Italy, c.1480s]
With borders full of dense foliage, Renaissance motifs, and dozens of miniatures; complete and in an early binding.
c.125 x 85mm, i + 406 leaves, complete, collation: 16, 2-4110, old ink foliation 1–398 followed here (ignores the calendar and repeats 35 and 367), two columns of 29 lines, ruled space: c.70 x 52 mm, 5 historiated initials, 24 full historiated borders, 49 three-sided illuminated borders, and small illuminated initials throughout, three- to seven-line initials extending into the upper and lower margins. Late 16th-century brown gilt leather. Textile-covered slipcase.
Content:
Calendar, with major feasts in red, otherwise ungraded (not foliated); Ferial psalter f.1; Litany f.71, followed by petitions and collects, the fifth with the very unusual ‘famulo tuo pastori nostro N’; Hymns f.72v; Rubrics f.81v; near-contemporary but added (lacking decoration) Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit ff.88-89; f.89v originally blank; Temporale, from the first Sunday in Advent to the week before Advent, f.90; Sanctorale, from St Saturninus to St Catherine of Alexandria (29 Nov. – 25 Nov.), f.254v, including the Dedication of a church or altar (between the IIII Coronati, 8 Nov. and Theodore, 9 Nov.) f.364; Common of saints, ending f.372; Office of the Dead f.392; Office of St Catherine of Siena (30 April) ff.395–398; added 16th-century medicinal recipes f.398v.
Illumination:
The main illumination consists of gold-edged borders densely filled with acanthus in rich colours, usually against a black background with gold tendril ornament, with miniatures or vignettes in gold-edged roundels or rectangular panels. These borders often contain Renaissance motifs such as putti, garlands, and candelabra, and there are a ‘historiated’ elements such as men spearing dragons. There appear to be at least two artists involved; the border on f.207, for example, is quite different from most of the others: the foliage is much less fleshy and abundant, and it is set against a gold ground with different tendril ornament, while the ground of the border on f.299v is not only gold, but burnished to a high polish. Miniatures are often set within simple landscapes, with green and yellow grass in the foreground, and a sky that blends rapidly from pale to dark blue; there is great variety, however: one is in semi-grisaille, for example. Partly due to their small scale, full-length figures often have a rather squat puppet-like appearance; some roundels contain the head and shoulders of more elegant figures in profile, reminiscent of medals by Pisanello and their derivatives in other media. The iconography is sometimes very unusual: an image of Kind David in water is standard for Psalm 68 (‘Salvum me fac deus, quoniam intraverunt aquae [...]’), but the details of his anatomy here are highly unusual, and there is no obvious explanation for a similar image at Psalm 38, where the background appears to be a snow-covered landscape.
The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows: David in prayer f.1; St Paul f.90; God blessing f.207; the Annunciation f.280; John the Baptist f.299v. The subjects of the borders are: f.1: Samson and the Lion; Moses turning his staff into a serpent before Herod; David and Goliath; a young man’s head. f.18v: a young woman’s head; an angel; a strange conflation of King David and Christ: rays of light from heaven shining on a king, without halo but with stigmata, kneeling next to a wall. f.20: King David, waist-deep in water. f.31v: a half-length child; a bearded man; The Fool. f.36v: King David, standing in shallow water. f.45: the four Evangelists. f.51v: putti and three clerics with red hats singing. f.60: the Last Judgement. f.90: Christ blessing; the Evangelists; David playing the psaltery; the Virgin Enthroned; a praying boy. f.107v: the Nativity; the Annunciation to the Shepherds; a monk(?) in profile; a prophet with scroll. f.120v: God blessing; Joseph presenting the infant Jesus at an altar; two angels. f.124v: the Adoration of the Magi. f.140v: the Creation. f.184: the Resurrection; busts and a head of three men. f.207: Pentecost; the Three Magi; a man’s head in profile. f.215: God blessing; a king’s head; a boy’s head; the Three Magi. f.217v: two laymen in prayer. f.254v: an enthroned king; a saint (Saturninus?) about to be beheaded; the Three Boys in the Fiery Furnace; a fly. f.280: the Four Evangelists, or four prophets. f.299v: John the Baptist preaching and baptising Jesus. f.304v: Sts Peter and Paul. f.307: the Conversion and beheading of St Paul. f.333: three prophets with scrolls; the Assumption of the Virgin, handing her girdle to St Thomas. f.372: St Peter; Sts Philip and James; Sts Andrew and Bartholomew; another apostle or evangelist. f.375v: a swaddled infant.
Provenance
(1) Although the manuscript was attributed in the 1953 and 1984 auction catalogues to Ferrara, nothing very similar is known from that city. None of the major feasts in the calendar show local influence, and the minor ones include unusual saints from a wide geographical area, including Fulcrann of Lodève (13 February), Mercurialis of Forlì (30 April), Valentine of Genoa (2 May), and Reparata of Florence (8 October). The fact that the Office of Catherine of Siena is placed at the very end, instead of within the Sanctorale, and she is absent from the calendar, may indicate that the manuscript was written in an area slow to introduce her into the liturgy. The lack of local feasts may suggest that the book was intended to be used by someone who travelled widely, but mendicant saints are not given special emphasis.
(2) Two 16th-century owners added foliation and running headings in pale brown ink, one of whom was probably responsible for having the book bound.
(3) Unidentified 18th/19th-century institutional(?) library: the spine inscribed in black ink with a shelfmark ‘K IV XXIIII’, and the lower left corner of the first page ‘K IV 24’.
(4) André Hachette (1873–1952); with his ink-stamp (Lugt no 132) and booklabel with ‘6’ in the corner; his sale, Collection Andre´ Hachette: manuscrits du XIIe au XVIe sie'cle […], Librairie Giraud-Badin, Paris, 16 December 1953, lot 6.
(5) Shown to Léon Delaissé, probably not long after the Hachette sale, who recorded on a loosely-inserted card his opinion in French that it it late 15th-century Florentine, from a workshop that used the patterns of Attavante.
(6) Sotheby’s, 3 July 1984, lot 73; bought by Alexandre Rosenberg £30,000.
(7) Rosenberg Ms 18.
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Anonymous northeastern Italian artist
Breviary, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northeastern Italy, c.1480s]
With borders full of dense foliage, Renaissance motifs, and dozens of miniatures; complete and in an early binding.
c.125 x 85mm, i + 406 leaves, complete, collation: 16, 2-4110, old ink foliation 1–398 followed here (ignores the calendar and repeats 35 and 367), two columns of 29 lines, ruled space: c.70 x 52 mm, 5 historiated initials, 24 full historiated borders, 49 three-sided illuminated borders, and small illuminated initials throughout, three- to seven-line initials extending into the upper and lower margins. Late 16th-century brown gilt leather. Textile-covered slipcase.
Content:
Calendar, with major feasts in red, otherwise ungraded (not foliated); Ferial psalter f.1; Litany f.71, followed by petitions and collects, the fifth with the very unusual ‘famulo tuo pastori nostro N’; Hymns f.72v; Rubrics f.81v; near-contemporary but added (lacking decoration) Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit ff.88-89; f.89v originally blank; Temporale, from the first Sunday in Advent to the week before Advent, f.90; Sanctorale, from St Saturninus to St Catherine of Alexandria (29 Nov. – 25 Nov.), f.254v, including the Dedication of a church or altar (between the IIII Coronati, 8 Nov. and Theodore, 9 Nov.) f.364; Common of saints, ending f.372; Office of the Dead f.392; Office of St Catherine of Siena (30 April) ff.395–398; added 16th-century medicinal recipes f.398v.
Illumination:
The main illumination consists of gold-edged borders densely filled with acanthus in rich colours, usually against a black background with gold tendril ornament, with miniatures or vignettes in gold-edged roundels or rectangular panels. These borders often contain Renaissance motifs such as putti, garlands, and candelabra, and there are a ‘historiated’ elements such as men spearing dragons. There appear to be at least two artists involved; the border on f.207, for example, is quite different from most of the others: the foliage is much less fleshy and abundant, and it is set against a gold ground with different tendril ornament, while the ground of the border on f.299v is not only gold, but burnished to a high polish. Miniatures are often set within simple landscapes, with green and yellow grass in the foreground, and a sky that blends rapidly from pale to dark blue; there is great variety, however: one is in semi-grisaille, for example. Partly due to their small scale, full-length figures often have a rather squat puppet-like appearance; some roundels contain the head and shoulders of more elegant figures in profile, reminiscent of medals by Pisanello and their derivatives in other media. The iconography is sometimes very unusual: an image of Kind David in water is standard for Psalm 68 (‘Salvum me fac deus, quoniam intraverunt aquae [...]’), but the details of his anatomy here are highly unusual, and there is no obvious explanation for a similar image at Psalm 38, where the background appears to be a snow-covered landscape.
The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows: David in prayer f.1; St Paul f.90; God blessing f.207; the Annunciation f.280; John the Baptist f.299v. The subjects of the borders are: f.1: Samson and the Lion; Moses turning his staff into a serpent before Herod; David and Goliath; a young man’s head. f.18v: a young woman’s head; an angel; a strange conflation of King David and Christ: rays of light from heaven shining on a king, without halo but with stigmata, kneeling next to a wall. f.20: King David, waist-deep in water. f.31v: a half-length child; a bearded man; The Fool. f.36v: King David, standing in shallow water. f.45: the four Evangelists. f.51v: putti and three clerics with red hats singing. f.60: the Last Judgement. f.90: Christ blessing; the Evangelists; David playing the psaltery; the Virgin Enthroned; a praying boy. f.107v: the Nativity; the Annunciation to the Shepherds; a monk(?) in profile; a prophet with scroll. f.120v: God blessing; Joseph presenting the infant Jesus at an altar; two angels. f.124v: the Adoration of the Magi. f.140v: the Creation. f.184: the Resurrection; busts and a head of three men. f.207: Pentecost; the Three Magi; a man’s head in profile. f.215: God blessing; a king’s head; a boy’s head; the Three Magi. f.217v: two laymen in prayer. f.254v: an enthroned king; a saint (Saturninus?) about to be beheaded; the Three Boys in the Fiery Furnace; a fly. f.280: the Four Evangelists, or four prophets. f.299v: John the Baptist preaching and baptising Jesus. f.304v: Sts Peter and Paul. f.307: the Conversion and beheading of St Paul. f.333: three prophets with scrolls; the Assumption of the Virgin, handing her girdle to St Thomas. f.372: St Peter; Sts Philip and James; Sts Andrew and Bartholomew; another apostle or evangelist. f.375v: a swaddled infant.
Provenance
(1) Although the manuscript was attributed in the 1953 and 1984 auction catalogues to Ferrara, nothing very similar is known from that city. None of the major feasts in the calendar show local influence, and the minor ones include unusual saints from a wide geographical area, including Fulcrann of Lodève (13 February), Mercurialis of Forlì (30 April), Valentine of Genoa (2 May), and Reparata of Florence (8 October). The fact that the Office of Catherine of Siena is placed at the very end, instead of within the Sanctorale, and she is absent from the calendar, may indicate that the manuscript was written in an area slow to introduce her into the liturgy. The lack of local feasts may suggest that the book was intended to be used by someone who travelled widely, but mendicant saints are not given special emphasis.
(2) Two 16th-century owners added foliation and running headings in pale brown ink, one of whom was probably responsible for having the book bound.
(3) Unidentified 18th/19th-century institutional(?) library: the spine inscribed in black ink with a shelfmark ‘K IV XXIIII’, and the lower left corner of the first page ‘K IV 24’.
(4) André Hachette (1873–1952); with his ink-stamp (Lugt no 132) and booklabel with ‘6’ in the corner; his sale, Collection Andre´ Hachette: manuscrits du XIIe au XVIe sie'cle […], Librairie Giraud-Badin, Paris, 16 December 1953, lot 6.
(5) Shown to Léon Delaissé, probably not long after the Hachette sale, who recorded on a loosely-inserted card his opinion in French that it it late 15th-century Florentine, from a workshop that used the patterns of Attavante.
(6) Sotheby’s, 3 July 1984, lot 73; bought by Alexandre Rosenberg £30,000.
(7) Rosenberg Ms 18.
Sale price
Estimate
Time
Auction House
