Antonio Maria da Villafora (fl 1469-1511) - photo 1
Antonio Maria da Villafora (fl 1469-1511) - photo 2

Antonio Maria da Villafora (fl 1469-1511)

Lot 31
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 3 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 470228
Lot 31 | Antonio Maria da Villafora (fl 1469-1511)
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Antonio Maria da Villafora (fl. 1469-1511)

Moses speaking to his people, Padua, c.1500

MOSES SPEAKING TO HIS PEOPLE, historiated initial cut from a choirbook illuminated by Antonio Maria da Villafora [Padua, c.1500].



A sparkling example of the work of Antonio Maria da Villafora (documented in Padua 1469-1511), showing his detailed technique and strong figural characterisation, perhaps from a volume originally commissioned by the Benedictines of Santa Giustina in Padua.



100 x 70mm. Reverse with remnants of three lines of text (minor loss of pigment to Moses' robe, and light rubbing to lower left corner of miniature). Mounted. Provenance: 'Vente Gélis-Didot, 1897': pencil note in French on back of mount. The miniature is no 87 in the Catalogue de manuscrits et miniatures du XIe au XVIIe siècle [...] composant la collection de M. P. Gélis-Didot. Paris, 12 April 1897, offered in that sale with lot 34, the historiated initial 'B' with God the Father.



Illumination: Although originating in Villafora in Polesina, Antonio Maria’s documented career was entirely in Padua. He was active over a long period and illuminated manuscripts and incunables for individual patrons and monasteries in and around the city. Some of his most significant works were commissions for Pietro Barozzi, Bishop of Padua for whom he worked from 1487 to 1506. He has been described as ‘the most important personality of the Paduan Renaissance in the field of illumination for the output, continuity and quality of his contributions’ (Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani, 2004, pp.36-9). The present initial, with the pronounced features, attentive modelling and careful and complex build-up of brushstrokes, shows affinities with his work in the last decades of the 15th century including incunables for Barozzi (nos 155-8 in La Miniatura a Padova dal medioevo al settecento, eds G.B. Baldissin, G. Mariani Canova, F. Toniolo, exh. cat. 1999, pp.382-6) and, for example, the initial with Christ Blessing St Peter in the British Library (Add. 71119E), a miniature that Gaudenz Freuler dates to the final phase of Villafora's career and suggests may have been excised from a volume commissioned by the Benedictines of Santa Giustina (see G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, 2013, II, pp.804-7). Indeed, the similarities between the present cutting, the British Library cuttting, and a Fool in an initial 'D' from the Karl and Elizabeth Katz collection sold at Christie's, 5-12 December 2017, lot 27, suggest they may all have come from the same volume.

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