The Resurrection of Christ, a large historiated initial from a Choirbook, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Spain, late fifteenth century]

cutting, 210mm. by 152mm., with a historiated initial ‘A’ formed of decorated bars in blue, green, red and burnished gold with scrolling acanthus in blue and light pink, enclosing an angel standing on the lid of an open sarcophagus with the risen Christ next to it, holding a cross and his right hand raised in blessing, three soldiers waking from sleep, set within a hilly landscape including a fortified city and Golgotha, showing two crucified figures and another hanging from a gallows, with the three Maries depicted as tiny haloed figures, in the lower right corner an apparent monogram, illumination rubbed in places with some small cracks, the reverse with remains of text and music on a 5-line red stave drawn in thick lines, rastrum 80mm., laid down on card but chipped away at corners, inscribed by a modern hand in pencil "17"

This cutting belonged to a Choirbook which must have been a vast and prestigious commission. The historiated initial is unusual as it combines the Resurrection of Christ with the angel who tells the three Maries at the empty tomb that Christ has risen. Features of the composition such as figures with long wavy hair clothed in heavy draperies, the steep perspective of the sarcophagus and the vulgar soldiers depicted in awkward positions strongly recall fifteenth-century German art. The remains of apparent Iberian monumental script and music on a large stave in irregular lines suggest, however, that this initial belonged to a manuscript that was produced in Spain. The composition was probably inspired by German prints which were widely disseminated across Europe. The monogram in the lower right corner may have been copied from the print.