The Harrowing of Hell, full-page miniature from an illuminated manuscript Book of Hours on vellum

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Description

a single leaf, 174mm. by 122mm., Christ dressed in the robes of his Resurrection with a tall cross reaching out his hand, stained with his blood, to bring forth the souls of the dead, including John the Baptist, from the huge monstrous mouth of hell, set below a gothic canopy in a landscape with a gothic castle on a hill and a distant windmill, in an arched compartment 130mm. by 65mm. within a full border of coloured flowers and acanthus leaves including an angel in prayer and a long-legged bird all infilled with tiny gold bezants on black hairline sprays, verso blank, negligible rubbing, lightly mounted

Catalogue Note

One of a group of miniatures sold together at Christie’s, 9 July 2001, lot 5. It belongs among the late works of the so-called Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures, close to a Book of Hours in The Hague, datable to about 1480 (cf. H. Defoer et al., The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, 1989, p.197, no.60).