Search Price Results
Wish

LOT 10

The Rosenberg Master (active c.1475-1495)

[ translate ]

The Rosenberg Master (active c.1475-1495)
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, Lyon, c.1490]
A representative of a major style of illumination, with highly unusual compositions.

c.195×130mm, ii + 142 + ii leaves, foliation in modern pencil every ten leaves in lower left corner, collation: 1-26, 38, 410, 5-78, 87 (of 8, lacking viii), 92 (of 8, lacking i-vi, and also a further gathering, probably of 8, before), 108 (of 10, lacking i and v), 11-128, 137 (of 8, lacking vi), 14-198, a few catchwords survive, 16 lines, ruled space c.100 x 65mm, rubrics in pale red sometimes with extensive calligraphic elaboration, one- and two-line illuminated initials, and line-fillers, throughout, 9 full-page miniatures, each engulfing an illuminated initial and three lines of text (lacking at least 18 leaves, including probably 7 miniatures at the beginnings of prime through to compline in the Hours of the Virgin, at Matins in the Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit, and at the beginning of the Office of the Dead). 18th-century red velvet with flat spine, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (the spine, edges, and joints worn). Red cloth slip-case and quarter-morocco box, gilt title on spine.

Content:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff.13-20v; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.21-30; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.31-62v: matins f.31, lauds f.50v, compline f.62; Hours of the Cross ff.64-66v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.67-70; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.72-92v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome ff.93-141v, ending with a series of collects written for a female reader (the supplicant refers to herself as ‘famule tue .N.’).

Illumination:
The present manuscript is illuminated by the Rosenberg Master, named after lot 9, ‘who is readily recognisable by his repertoire of mannerisms, particularly his rendering of clouds, foliage, towering rocks, and textile patterns’ (Plummer, 1982). The origins of his style are discussed in lot 9; here, despite also having fundamentally the same style for the figures and their draperies, he is working perhaps a decade later, and shows a very different side of his artistic personality. The borders are plain gold frames (with red edging to suggest shadows thrown from a light-source at top left), that extend far beyond the normal limits as defined by the ruled text area, to fully surround a few lines of text and occupy most of the margin below it. This change was perhaps prompted by the fact that the artist had to work on pages that already had three lines of text written: to place miniatures entirely above the text would have made them unsatisfactorily small, and so he had instead to envelop the text. Similarly, he could not follow his standard practise of writing the opening words of the text on the lower edge of the frame, as these words were already present. With the exception of the harp lying on the ground below David in Penitence, the extension of the miniatures below the text never contains anything of significance, and thus simply creates an expansive, spacious, impression, which seems to have been the intention: it is especially striking how St Luke and his Bull are confined to one quadrant of the miniature on f.15, as if the tiled floor were the real subject of the scene. It may be that the artist was using these tiled floors to experiment with a new-found interest in perspective, of which we see a hint in the Funeral Procession of lot 9. One of the effects of this experiment is tha the foreground of the miniatures seems to extend forward into the space of the viewer, making for a more immersive, intimate viewing experience.

The subjects of the miniatures are: St John on Patmos, writing, the Eagle flying above his head f.13; St Luke writing on a scroll, with the Bull, sitting to one side of a room with an expanse of tiled floor f.15; St Matthew reading a book, the Angel holding another book open towards him f.17; St Mark, writing in a book, with the Lion f.19; The Virgin and Child, enthroned (Plummer, 1982, fig. 101) f.21; The Lamentation, in a landscape with the Cross f.25v; The Annunciation f.31; The Visitation, outside a chapel, in a landscape f.50v; King David in Penitence, in a landscape f.72.

Provenance
(1) Written and illuminated in Lyon for use by a woman. The style of illumination can be confidently localised in the city, but the non-local use of Rome and the liturgically unspecific calendar and litany suggest that the book was made on spec for sale to customers from other places: indeed most Books of Hours made in Lyon at this period are use of Rome; presumably they were made for sale to itinerant merchants and their wives, rather than local residents.

(2) Carleton R. Richmond (1887–1975) (on whom see D.C. Dickinson, Dictionary of American Book Collectors, 1986, p.270): his bookplate, with name and crest; sold (together with his illuminated Tacuinum sanitatis and Roman de la Rose manuscripts) at Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 30 October 1981, lot 53 (ill.). Bought by Alexandre Rosenberg for $9,075.

(3) Rosenberg Ms 6.

[ translate ]

View it on
Sale price
Unlock
Estimate
Unlock
Time
22 Apr 2021
Auction House
Unlock

[ translate ]

The Rosenberg Master (active c.1475-1495)
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, Lyon, c.1490]
A representative of a major style of illumination, with highly unusual compositions.

c.195×130mm, ii + 142 + ii leaves, foliation in modern pencil every ten leaves in lower left corner, collation: 1-26, 38, 410, 5-78, 87 (of 8, lacking viii), 92 (of 8, lacking i-vi, and also a further gathering, probably of 8, before), 108 (of 10, lacking i and v), 11-128, 137 (of 8, lacking vi), 14-198, a few catchwords survive, 16 lines, ruled space c.100 x 65mm, rubrics in pale red sometimes with extensive calligraphic elaboration, one- and two-line illuminated initials, and line-fillers, throughout, 9 full-page miniatures, each engulfing an illuminated initial and three lines of text (lacking at least 18 leaves, including probably 7 miniatures at the beginnings of prime through to compline in the Hours of the Virgin, at Matins in the Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit, and at the beginning of the Office of the Dead). 18th-century red velvet with flat spine, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (the spine, edges, and joints worn). Red cloth slip-case and quarter-morocco box, gilt title on spine.

Content:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff.13-20v; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.21-30; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.31-62v: matins f.31, lauds f.50v, compline f.62; Hours of the Cross ff.64-66v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.67-70; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.72-92v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome ff.93-141v, ending with a series of collects written for a female reader (the supplicant refers to herself as ‘famule tue .N.’).

Illumination:
The present manuscript is illuminated by the Rosenberg Master, named after lot 9, ‘who is readily recognisable by his repertoire of mannerisms, particularly his rendering of clouds, foliage, towering rocks, and textile patterns’ (Plummer, 1982). The origins of his style are discussed in lot 9; here, despite also having fundamentally the same style for the figures and their draperies, he is working perhaps a decade later, and shows a very different side of his artistic personality. The borders are plain gold frames (with red edging to suggest shadows thrown from a light-source at top left), that extend far beyond the normal limits as defined by the ruled text area, to fully surround a few lines of text and occupy most of the margin below it. This change was perhaps prompted by the fact that the artist had to work on pages that already had three lines of text written: to place miniatures entirely above the text would have made them unsatisfactorily small, and so he had instead to envelop the text. Similarly, he could not follow his standard practise of writing the opening words of the text on the lower edge of the frame, as these words were already present. With the exception of the harp lying on the ground below David in Penitence, the extension of the miniatures below the text never contains anything of significance, and thus simply creates an expansive, spacious, impression, which seems to have been the intention: it is especially striking how St Luke and his Bull are confined to one quadrant of the miniature on f.15, as if the tiled floor were the real subject of the scene. It may be that the artist was using these tiled floors to experiment with a new-found interest in perspective, of which we see a hint in the Funeral Procession of lot 9. One of the effects of this experiment is tha the foreground of the miniatures seems to extend forward into the space of the viewer, making for a more immersive, intimate viewing experience.

The subjects of the miniatures are: St John on Patmos, writing, the Eagle flying above his head f.13; St Luke writing on a scroll, with the Bull, sitting to one side of a room with an expanse of tiled floor f.15; St Matthew reading a book, the Angel holding another book open towards him f.17; St Mark, writing in a book, with the Lion f.19; The Virgin and Child, enthroned (Plummer, 1982, fig. 101) f.21; The Lamentation, in a landscape with the Cross f.25v; The Annunciation f.31; The Visitation, outside a chapel, in a landscape f.50v; King David in Penitence, in a landscape f.72.

Provenance
(1) Written and illuminated in Lyon for use by a woman. The style of illumination can be confidently localised in the city, but the non-local use of Rome and the liturgically unspecific calendar and litany suggest that the book was made on spec for sale to customers from other places: indeed most Books of Hours made in Lyon at this period are use of Rome; presumably they were made for sale to itinerant merchants and their wives, rather than local residents.

(2) Carleton R. Richmond (1887–1975) (on whom see D.C. Dickinson, Dictionary of American Book Collectors, 1986, p.270): his bookplate, with name and crest; sold (together with his illuminated Tacuinum sanitatis and Roman de la Rose manuscripts) at Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 30 October 1981, lot 53 (ill.). Bought by Alexandre Rosenberg for $9,075.

(3) Rosenberg Ms 6.

[ translate ]
Sale price
Unlock
Estimate
Unlock
Time
22 Apr 2021
Auction House
Unlock