- 17
David with his psaltery, historiated initial on a leaf from an illuminated manuscript choirbook, on vellum [Italy, Lombardy, c. 1460-70]
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Vellum
single leaf, 520mm. by 270mm., with a large initial 'E' (opening "Exultate deo adiutori nostro ...", Psalm 80), 130mm. by 132mm., in fleshy pink, green and blue acanthus leaf sprays, their undersides ringed and dotted in white penwork, enclosing a detailed bust of David before a grassy landscape with winding rivers and a dark and brooding sky, holding his psaltery to his chest with a pick in each hand to pluck the strings, initials in red or blue, 14 lines in black ink in a fine late gothic bookhand, gold crackled and greatly flaked away, else good and presentable condition, mounted on card
Catalogue Note
This leaf is from the same manuscript as the previous lot, but by a different artist, whose influences rather than looking backwards to the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, anticipate the humanist-inspired art of the court of the Este in Ferrara. The scene and its central figure is much more detailed, and the handling of the skintones of David's dispassionate gaze and slightly puckered brow are more accomplished. The whole is comparable to the illustrations of the illuminators' team at the court of Borso d'Este in 1455-61, and the work of Franco de Russi in particular.