Anonymous Bolognese illuminator - photo 1
Anonymous Bolognese illuminator - photo 2

Anonymous Bolognese illuminator

Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
Auction dateClassic
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +01:00
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CHRISTIE'S
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
ID 1249737
Lot 3 | Anonymous Bolognese illuminator
Anonymous Bolognese illuminator
St John the Baptist, historiated initial I on a leaf from an Antiphonal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern Italy, probably Bologna, final quarter 13th century]
An appealing and tender rendition of John the Baptist holding the Agnus Dei, on a large leaf from an Antiphonal.

425 x 306mm. The historiated initial opening text from the Feast of Corpus Christi (‘Immolabit haedum multitudo filiorum Israel ad vesperam paschae’), 7 lines of text and music on 4-line staves in red, decorated initials in red and blue on recto (a few small wormholes not affecting image, small losses of pigment to drapery and lower foliate extension, the latter due to skilfull repair on recto, small loss of gold to halo). Provenance: Bloomsbury Book Auctions, 6 July 2016, part of lot 82.

The Baptist's expressive gaze, achieved by heavy modelling with brow and nose heightened in white, is characteristic of Bolognese illumination in the last decades of the duecento. Comparable facial types are found in several of the initials in a Gradual now in Madrid, (Biblioteca Nacional Vitr. 21-8, ff.2 & 125) with similar triangular-shaped eye areas, flesh tones and delineation of hair and halos outlined in black, by an illuminator strongly influenced by the Master of the Gerona Bible (see M. Bollati, Dizionario Biografico dei Miniatori Italiani, 2004, p.522). Named after the famous Bible in the Biblioteca Capitolare della Cattedrale in Gerona (Ms.10), the Master was the leading Bolognese illuminator from the 1260s to 1290s and his innovative style has been aligned with the artistic aspirations of Giotto, ‘in clear, elegant articulation of figures and emphasis given to animating the faces of their figures with feelings suited to the iconographical requirements’ (G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, I, 2013, p.171).
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Books and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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