Tree of the Virgin Mary, vast colophon leaf from a Gradual signed by the scribe Leonard Kindhauser, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [southern Germany (Ulm), dated 1517-20]

single leaf, 504mm. by 310mm., vast illuminated tree following the form of the Tree of Jesse with a silver trunk growing from a flowery meadow, surmounted by the Virgin and Child on a Crescent Moon surrounded by an arc of stars, addressed by angels and numerous half-length figures of all the people involved with the Franciscan convent of Ulm and in the making of the book, emerging from flowers enclosed in scrolling leaf design in pink, red, blue and green, the figures inscribed with their titles and accompanied by long scrolls, the arms of Bavaria at the foot of the tree, a long colophon in red ink on a framed panel suspended from the lower right branch, under the final line of text (end of the last Sunday after Trinity, conclusion of the Temporal), the recto with six 4-line red staves with music and text written in a gothic bookhand, rastrum 35mm., one large initial in red, folio number ‘C.lxxxiiii.’ in red at top, illumination slightly rubbed in places, the silver oxidised, upper margin creased and folded back for framing

This leaf includes one of the richest colophons ever produced, both for the information it gives about the book and for its visual representation of contemporary and identifiable figures, recording how and in what way they impinged on the life of the scribe Leonard Kindhauser. The colophon says that the work of this Gradual in three parts was begun by Brother Leonardus Kindhauser to the glory of God and of his mother and All Saints in 1517 within the octave of St. Francis, and it was completed on 3 February 1520, in the 24th year of his profession, the 18th of his becoming a priest, and the 45th year of his life. Leonard Kindhauser is shown beside the plaque dressed as a Franciscan and pointing to the colophon, while holding a scroll inscribed with the letters “O.S.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.P.” (presumably something like “O sancta Maria, Mater Misericordiae, Memento Mei, Miserere Mei, Miserabili Peccatori”). Beside him are the arms of Bavaria, entitled “nacione bavarus”. It is the only signed work of the otherwise unrecorded Kindhauser, a Franciscan and member of the Convent of Observantine Friars in Ulm, as we learn from the inscriptions about his colleagues. Around him are other members of his convent, to his right (i) the Vice-Guardian, Johann Erhard, novice-master; at the far left (ii) the Lector, Johann Fabri (over an erasure) preacher of this convent of Ulm; above at the far right (iii) Pater Gaspar Schaggeiz, who was acting vicar when the work began in 1517; next to him (iv) the Guardian, Heinrich Kastner (over an erasure), guardian of the convent and supervisor of this work, now in his seventh year of office; next to him (5) the Provincial, Pater Johan Macheysen, Observantine Provincial Minister, in his third year of office; and at the far left (6) Pater Wendaling de Lauterburg, formerly Provincial Vicar. Above these again are the rulers beyond the confines of the convent, from left to right (a) Pater Franciscus Lichetus, Franciscan Minister General after the union brought about by Pope Leo X, now in his second year of office; (b) Cardinal Domenico Grimani, reformer of the Franciscan Order; (c) Charles, King of Spain, Naples, Duke of Austria, elected King of the Romans in 1519, and (d) Mattheus Kraft, mayor of the city and a neighbour and friend (“vicinus et amicus noster”). Above are (1) Leo X, pope 1513-21, who, (it says) in 1517 moved the control of the convent from the Observantine friars to the Minister General in Rome; and (2) the Emperor Maximilian, friend and protector of the Observantine friars, who died on 12 January 1519. At the top are four angels offering praises to the Virgin and Child.