Circle of Attavante degli Attavanti (1452-c.1525) - photo 1
Circle of Attavante degli Attavanti (1452-c.1525) - photo 2

Circle of Attavante degli Attavanti (1452-c.1525)

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 1249728
Lot 20 | Circle of Attavante degli Attavanti (1452-c.1525)
Circle of Attavante degli Attavanti (1452-c.1525)
The Franciscan Proto-martyrs, historiated initial A on a leaf from an Antiphonal, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Florence, c.1490]
A fine example of Florentine illumination towards the end of the quattrocento, by an accomplished collaborator of Vante di Gabriello di Vante Attavanti, also known as Attavante, ‘the most famous and most representative artist of Italian miniature painting’.

530 x 385mm. The initial opening the chant for the Common of several martyrs (‘Absterget deus omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum […]’), the initial on the recto, on a ground of burnished gold with accompanying foliate part-border, rubrics in red, 6 lines of text and music on 4-line staves, elaborate penwork initial in red and blue, marginal folio no. ‘28’ in 18th-century hand (faint scored stave line running across initial touching faces, very small pigment loss to initial). Provenance: Bloomsbury Auctions, 6 July 2016, lot 84.

A fine example of Florentine illumination towards the end of the quattrocento, by an accomplished collaborator of Vante di Gabriello di Vante Attavanti, also known as Attavante, ‘the most famous and most representative artist of Italian miniature painting’ (M. Bollati, Dizionario Biografico dei Miniatori Italiani, 2004, pp. 975-979). A leaf from the same choirbook, with an historiated initial showing St Catherine and similarly foliated, appeared in Les Enluminures’ Catalogue 1 (1992, no 14). The finely delineated faces, with pale flesh tones, set against a pale blue background in both initials are characteristic of the style of Attavante, who headed a highly-organised workshop and produced sumptuous manuscripts for Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Pope Leo X, or Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici.

The present initial shows strong similarities too, with a cutting from a Gradual, also showing five martyred saints, by the Florentine illuminator Littifredi di Corbizzi (b.1465), no 102 in Gaudenz Freuler, Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, Silvana, 2013, Vol II, pp.860-1. All aspects of this initial are comparable: its decorative features, the compositional arrangement of the half-length saints, the thin trickles of blood and the strong yet finely delineated faces. Littifredi, active in Siena from 1494 until at least 1515 (two miniatures survive signed with his name 'Litti Florentie' (Manchester, Univ. Lib., MS 14n.II., f.10 and Siena, Bibl. Com., MS X.V.III, f.50, dated 1494) may have started out as an apprentice in Attavante’s workshop and Attavante’s influence is evident in his early style (see Annarosa Garzelli, Miniatura Fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525, Florence, 1985, pp.337-339).
Artist:Attavante degli Attavanti (1452 - 1525)
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
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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