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Dives in Hell, large miniature on a leaf from an illuminated manuscript Book of Hours on vellum, in Latin
Estimate
1,200 - 1,800 GBP
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Description
a single leaf, 179mm. by 122mm., large miniature in an arched compartment, 102mm. by 62mm., showing the rich man Dives being dragged naked by three grotesque demons into a fiery pit in a valley between two hills in a landscape, God above holding the tranquil soul of the beggar Lazarus who has gone to Heaven, painted in colours and liquid gold above a large initial and 4 lines of text (“Regem cui omnia …”, opening of Matins in the Office of the Dead), full border of coloured flowers and fruit with acanthus leaves on a ground parti-coloured in liquid gold, verso with 18 lines of text, written-space 113mm. by 63mm., illuminated initials and line-fillers, outer edge of two borders smudged, foliated ‘154’ in pencil, the miniature in fine condition, lightly mounted
Catalogue Note
From the same manuscript as the two previous lots. The parable of the different fates of Dives and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31, is “traité exceptionellement” in the illustration of Books of Hours (Leroquais, Livres d’Heures, 1927, I, p.xlviii). It is especially associated with Books of Hours from Paris (cf. G. Bartz and E. König, ‘Die Illustration des Totenoffiziums in Stundenbüchern’, Im Angesicht des Todes, 1988, esp. pp.520-21, and pl.10). The subject was a popular theme in late medieval religious drama.