The Deposition of Christ, large full-page miniature, perhaps from a New Testament [southern Germany (Nuremberg), c.1522-25]

single leaf, 260x195mm, vellum, with a miniature, 240x175mm, by Nikolaus Glockendon, signed with the artist’s monogram “NG” in the foreground at bottom left, reverse blank, slightly rubbed with pigment losses, the blue mantle of the Virgin retouched in places, tiny worm holes to edges, overall in good condition, framed and glazed

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
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provenance

(1) Perhaps made for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545), patron of the arts, or Johann Friedrich I (1503-1554), Elector of Saxony and supporter of the Protestant Reformation.

The present leaf was published by Ulrich Merkl, together with two sister leaves, a Massacre of the Innocents (Kassel, Landesbibliothek, 4° MS Math. et art 50, f.36r) and a heavily rubbed Crucifixion (Parma, priv. coll.) (see Buchmalerei in Bayern, 1999, no.114, ills.414-16). The miniatures are similar in size and style and individually signed with the artist’s monogram. None of them includes text. The large format and the subject-matter suggest that these were made for a New Testament or a Missal. Closely related is Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg’s sumptuous Missale Hallense from 1524 (Aschaffenburg, Hofbib., MS 10; 14 detached pages in Mainz, Landesmus., inv.no. 65.19) with very large miniatures measuring 335x245mm, and a deluxe copy of Martin Luther’s New Testament from 1522 (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bib., Cod. Guelf. 25.13,14 Extravagantes) for Johann Friedrich I, the future Elector of Saxony. The two-volume set of Johann Friedrich’s New Testament includes miniatures with dimensions similar to the present example. The second volume is lavishly decorated while the first volume includes only four portraits of the Evangelists. Merkl suggested that Glockendon may have planned a larger cycle of illustrations for the first volume (including the present miniature) but changed his mind later on. Alternatively, the present miniature may have been made for Albrecht of Brandenburg, since the sister leaf with the Massacre of the Innocents is part of a composite manuscript associated with the Cardinal; the Kassel volume contains single-leaf miniatures by various artists, some of which are associated with textual fragments while others may have been produced as specimens of illumination (see ibid., no.121).

(2) Maggs, Fine Books and Manuscripts, Cat.1167, 1993, no.26 (clipping from catalogue pasted to reverse of frame).

(3) Viscount Lambton, 6th Earl of Durham; thence by descent to the present owner.

illumination

Nikolaus Glockendon (c.1490/95-1533/34), the foremost illuminator of 16th-century Germany, made a career of copying the compositions of other artists, especially those of his Nuremberg colleague Albrecht Dürer. Glockendon was the acknowledged German master in his field, supported by elite patronage and impressively high fees, with a productivity attested to by a large body of identified works. The present miniature is based on a print with the Deposition of Christ by Marcantonio Raimondi from c.1520-21 (Bartsch 32).