The Raising of Lazarus, miniature from a Book of Hours [southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1480-90]

cutting, c.98x68mm, vellum, miniature probably for the beginning of the Office of the Dead by the MASTER OF EDWARD IV, the reverse blank except for pencil inscriptions, trimmed to edges, slightly smudged along the left edge, framed

From the collection of ROBERT LEHMAN (1892–1969), one of the great private art collectors of the 20th century (see also lots 1 and 19), his MS 39 (note on reverse of mount); de Ricci, Census, II, p.1713 (described as Christ Healing the Leper); formerly on deposit at the Metropolitan Museum, New York; sold en bloc with other miniatures and leaves to J. Günther, 2004; to the present owner.

This miniature is an exceptionally fine work by the Master of Edward IV. Six miniatures in Baltimore are painted in the same style and have similar dimensions; they show the Visitation, Annunciation to the Shepherds, Massacre of the Innocents, the Coronation of the Virgin, Crucifixion, and Pentecost (Walters, W.443a-f; L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, III.2, 1997, no.282, fig.529). Although they differ in height they are all 69mm wide; they doubtless all come from a single book of Hours. The back of the present miniature is inscribed in 19th-century pencil ‘No. 146’, while four of the Baltimore miniatures have the numbers ‘144’, ‘145’, ‘147’, and ‘148’.