St Martin, Bishop of Tours, large historiated initial on a leaf from a Choirbook, in Latin [Italy (Siena), c.1490-1500]

single leaf, 565x400mm, vellum, with an initial 'H' including St Martin depicted as a bishop, and a full border with St Martin sharing his cloak, the arms of Siena (the 'balzana', a black and white shield), the arms of the Sienese people (the lion rampant), and both combined in one shield, for the feast of St Martin (11 Nov.), five lines of text and music on four-line red staves, 395x235, rastrum 41mm, original foliation 'cxxxi' in outer margin, vellum cockled and stained, cracking and loss to the gold leaf, overall in good condition, in an attractive 19th-century double-sided frame

This richly illuminated leaf includes the coats of arms of Siena, but the style is more closely linked to Florence. The Choirbooks made for the Cathedral of Siena, housed in the Piccolomini Library adjacent to the cathedral, are probably one of the most prominent examples that attracted artists from abroad. Best known are the exquisite illuminations by Liberale da Verona and Girolamo da Cremona, executed between 1466 and 1478 and later carried on by other Sienese illuminators. The Florentine artist Francesco Rosselli also collaborated on these Choirbooks. Gaudenz Freuler noted the less well known case of LITTIFREDI DI CORBIZZI who trained in Florence but who settled in Siena permanently; especially close is the precise drawing for figures and facial features (see the following lot). The lavish decoration of this particular page showing St Martin and the inclusion of the arms on it, may indicate that the parent volume was made for the church of San Martino in Siena. Most interesting is the depiction of St Martin in a white robe that resembles the white habit of the canons of San Martino.