King David kneeling in prayer, very large historiated initial on a leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript choirbook, in Latin, on vellum [Italy, Lombardy, c.1460-70]

Estimate

7,000 - 9,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

single leaf, 520mm. by 270mm., with large initial 'D' (opening "Dominus illuminatio mea ...", Psalm 26), 135mm. by 135mm., in fleshy pink, green and blue acanthus leaf sprays, their undersides dotted in white penwork, enclosing David in bright red robes, kneeling in a wooded and rocky landscape strewn with blue and burgundy pebbles, as God appears before him in a golden aureole, scrolling bands of lines emerging from the end of each acanthus-leaf spray punctuated by coloured baubles and terminating in realistic leaves, large coloured buds and bezants, similar decoration in bas-de-page surrounding a crowned 'pax' within a soft pink wreath, two initials formed of ornamental cadels, red and blue initials, rubrics in red, 14 lines in black ink in a fine late gothic bookhand, trimmed at edges with some losses to borders, gold crackled and greatly flaked away, else good and presentable condition, mounted on card

Provenance

provenance

This leaf bears symbols attributable to the Visconti family (namely the characteristic "Visconti-sun" with its stylised meandering rays and the crown above the device 'pax'), which may identify the parent volume as commissioned by Bianca Maria Visconti (1424-1468), wife of Francesco Sforza (1401-1466). The frontispiece of the manuscript (now in a private collection) reveals that it was made for a Franciscan convent, perhaps that of San Angelo in Milan, which received a great deal of bibliophilic patronage from Filippo Maria Visconti and his heirs. The library of San Angelo was stripped bare by Napoleonic troops, and its books scattered.

Catalogue Note

illumination

The illumination is the work of a close follower of the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum (fl.1430-50), who came to dominate the book-arts of the court of Filippo Maria Visconti during the second quarter of the fifteenth century. He is named after an Italian translation of Suetonius (BnF. ms.ital.131) made for the duke in 1430. The present artist shares the Master's fluid drapery with long parallel lines and sensitive handling of fleshtones, and the facial features and thick curls of hair are notably close to the figure of God in a historiated initial by him in the Cini collection (reproduced in M. Levi d'Ancona, Wildenstein Collection, 1970, fig.1).