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MANUAL FOR THE USE OF SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME, IN LATIN [ITALY (ROME), C.1500, NOT BEFORE 1493]
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- [Italy (Rome), late 15th or early 16th century, not before 1493]
c.320x230mm, manuscript on vellum, ii+252+1+i leaves, complete, collation: i–xx10, xxi2, xxii–xxvi10, catchwords, two columns of up to 21 lines of text, or up to 7 lines of text and music on four-line staves with square notation, ruled space c.210x150mm, ff.10r–v, 202r–v ruled otherwise blank, illuminated with 3 large historiated initials and an inhabited full border, 31 smaller illuminated initials with partial borders, 1- and 2-line initials throughout alternately red or blue with elaborate flourishing in the other colour; some rubbing and minor flaking of pigments and ink, but generally in fine condition; sewn on five bands and bound in 18th-century brown leather over pasteboards with gilt corner- and centrepieces and two catches all finely engraved with vases and flowers (clasps missing), the spine lettered in gilt capitals ‘Manuale Augustinianum’, gilt edges, modern fitted box
Condition
Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Provenance
(1) Made in Rome no earlier than 1493 (f.181r), for the Augustinian Friars of Santa Maria del Popolo: the calendar, litany, and Sactorale are Augustinian and the church is specified in the first rubric and in the first historiated initial (f.11r). (2) Eugène Le Brun-Dalbanne (1814–80), president of the Société Académique de l’Aube, Troyes, with his bookplate ‘Ex Museo de Le Brun Dalbanne’, and his(?) notes on the history of the manuscript in French (f.[ii]v). (3) Henry (d.1937) and/or his brother François (d.1953) Chandon de Briailles, of Moët et Chandon fame: with a book-label ‘au Cte. Chandon de Briaille’ inscribed ‘Mss 6’, their sale at Tajan, Paris, 17 December 2003, lot 22. (4) Private collection, France. Text
Calendar for the use of Augustinian Friars: feasts in red include St Augustine, 28 Feb. (the translation of his relics from Sardinia to Pavia), 5 May, 28 Aug. (‘patris nostri, duplex maius’; with octave, ‘duplex minus’), 11 Oct. (first translation), Monica, Augustine’s mother, 9 Apr., 4 May (‘duplex maius’, with octave), Nicholas of Tolentino, 5 June, 10 Sept. (‘ordinis heremitae S. Augustini duplex maius’; with octave), (f.1r); ‘Incipit Manuale sancte Marie de populo alme urbis secundum consuetudine Romae curie’, Temporale (f.11r), the litany of saints (f.62v) with ‘sancte pater Augustine’; lists of different antiphons depending on what day Christmas falls (f.125r) and rubrics for variants through the year (f.126v); Sanctorale (f.131r) from Saturninus to Simplicianus, with a long rubric (f.181r) following the feast of St Augustine concerning a papal bull dated 1493 of Alexander VI solemnising the feast; Common of Saints (f.203r); Office of the Virgin (f.218v); Office of the Dead (f.225r), followed by the Ordos for visiting the sick (f.23v), Last Rites (f.238v), and burial (f.251r); blessings to be said at meals through the year (f.252r); added prayers to Sts Monica and Nicholas of Tolentino (f.253r).
Illumination
The opening page of the main text (f.11r) has two historiated initials and a full border encompassing five saints and a Prophet: (1) initial ‘F’ with Virgin and Child behind a ledge inscribed ‘S. M. D. POPVLO’; (2) initial ‘E’ with St Paul; the side borders depict (3) Isaiah and (4) St Nicholas of Tolentino (with book and a lily in his hands and a glowing sun on his breast), the lower corners depict Sts (5) Stephen and (6) Lawrence, while Sts (7) Monica and (8) Augustine are in the middle of the upper and lower borders. The largest initial depicts (9) St Paul (f.203r). The image of the Virgin and Child is clearly a copy of the famous ‘Madonna del Populo’ icon, reputed to have been painted by St Luke.
The other illuminated initials mark the following feasts: Christmas (f.30r), Epiphany (f.42r), Easter (f.93r), Ascension (f.103r, 103v), Pentecost (f.106r, 106v), Trinity Sunday (f.110r), Corpus Christi (f.113r x2), the Conception of the Virgin (f. 133r), Purification (f. 138r), Annunciation (f.142r), Invention of the Cross (f.147r), John the Baptist (f.154r), Peter & Paul (f.157v), Visitation (f.162v), Transfiguration (f.169r), Laurence (f.171v), Assumption (f.173v), St Augustine (f.177r, 177v), the birth of the Virgin (f.184r x2), Nicholas of Tolentino (ff.186v, 187r), the Exaltation of the Cross (f.189r), the dedication of San Michele (f.191v), All Saints (f.195 x2), the Dedication of a church (f.217r); a few of them are historiated, e.g. the second Corpus Christi initial depicts a chalice and host, and the Invention of the Cross depicts the Cross.
Probably founded in the 13th century, the church of Sta Maria del Popolo in Piazza del Popolo was, and remains, one of the most famous churches in Rome. During the 1470s, Pope Sixtus IV (born Francesco della Rovere, d.1484) demolished the medieval church and rebuilt it as one of the city’s first Renaissance churches, and a dynastic monument of the della Rovere family. His nephew, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, commissioned a new high altar for the icon of the Virgin – depicted in the present manuscript – to which another nephew, Giuliano, had a special devotion after he became Pope Julius II (1503–15). The illuminator of the present manuscript has not yet been identified, but the environment of art patronage in which it was commissioned is clear.
(1) Made in Rome no earlier than 1493 (f.181r), for the Augustinian Friars of Santa Maria del Popolo: the calendar, litany, and Sactorale are Augustinian and the church is specified in the first rubric and in the first historiated initial (f.11r). (2) Eugène Le Brun-Dalbanne (1814–80), president of the Société Académique de l’Aube, Troyes, with his bookplate ‘Ex Museo de Le Brun Dalbanne’, and his(?) notes on the history of the manuscript in French (f.[ii]v). (3) Henry (d.1937) and/or his brother François (d.1953) Chandon de Briailles, of Moët et Chandon fame: with a book-label ‘au Cte. Chandon de Briaille’ inscribed ‘Mss 6’, their sale at Tajan, Paris, 17 December 2003, lot 22. (4) Private collection, France. Text
Calendar for the use of Augustinian Friars: feasts in red include St Augustine, 28 Feb. (the translation of his relics from Sardinia to Pavia), 5 May, 28 Aug. (‘patris nostri, duplex maius’; with octave, ‘duplex minus’), 11 Oct. (first translation), Monica, Augustine’s mother, 9 Apr., 4 May (‘duplex maius’, with octave), Nicholas of Tolentino, 5 June, 10 Sept. (‘ordinis heremitae S. Augustini duplex maius’; with octave), (f.1r); ‘Incipit Manuale sancte Marie de populo alme urbis secundum consuetudine Romae curie’, Temporale (f.11r), the litany of saints (f.62v) with ‘sancte pater Augustine’; lists of different antiphons depending on what day Christmas falls (f.125r) and rubrics for variants through the year (f.126v); Sanctorale (f.131r) from Saturninus to Simplicianus, with a long rubric (f.181r) following the feast of St Augustine concerning a papal bull dated 1493 of Alexander VI solemnising the feast; Common of Saints (f.203r); Office of the Virgin (f.218v); Office of the Dead (f.225r), followed by the Ordos for visiting the sick (f.23v), Last Rites (f.238v), and burial (f.251r); blessings to be said at meals through the year (f.252r); added prayers to Sts Monica and Nicholas of Tolentino (f.253r).
Illumination
The opening page of the main text (f.11r) has two historiated initials and a full border encompassing five saints and a Prophet: (1) initial ‘F’ with Virgin and Child behind a ledge inscribed ‘S. M. D. POPVLO’; (2) initial ‘E’ with St Paul; the side borders depict (3) Isaiah and (4) St Nicholas of Tolentino (with book and a lily in his hands and a glowing sun on his breast), the lower corners depict Sts (5) Stephen and (6) Lawrence, while Sts (7) Monica and (8) Augustine are in the middle of the upper and lower borders. The largest initial depicts (9) St Paul (f.203r). The image of the Virgin and Child is clearly a copy of the famous ‘Madonna del Populo’ icon, reputed to have been painted by St Luke.
The other illuminated initials mark the following feasts: Christmas (f.30r), Epiphany (f.42r), Easter (f.93r), Ascension (f.103r, 103v), Pentecost (f.106r, 106v), Trinity Sunday (f.110r), Corpus Christi (f.113r x2), the Conception of the Virgin (f. 133r), Purification (f. 138r), Annunciation (f.142r), Invention of the Cross (f.147r), John the Baptist (f.154r), Peter & Paul (f.157v), Visitation (f.162v), Transfiguration (f.169r), Laurence (f.171v), Assumption (f.173v), St Augustine (f.177r, 177v), the birth of the Virgin (f.184r x2), Nicholas of Tolentino (ff.186v, 187r), the Exaltation of the Cross (f.189r), the dedication of San Michele (f.191v), All Saints (f.195 x2), the Dedication of a church (f.217r); a few of them are historiated, e.g. the second Corpus Christi initial depicts a chalice and host, and the Invention of the Cross depicts the Cross.
Probably founded in the 13th century, the church of Sta Maria del Popolo in Piazza del Popolo was, and remains, one of the most famous churches in Rome. During the 1470s, Pope Sixtus IV (born Francesco della Rovere, d.1484) demolished the medieval church and rebuilt it as one of the city’s first Renaissance churches, and a dynastic monument of the della Rovere family. His nephew, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, commissioned a new high altar for the icon of the Virgin – depicted in the present manuscript – to which another nephew, Giuliano, had a special devotion after he became Pope Julius II (1503–15). The illuminator of the present manuscript has not yet been identified, but the environment of art patronage in which it was commissioned is clear.