Domenico Morone (c1442-1503) - photo 1

Domenico Morone (c1442-1503)

Lot 32
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 8 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 470130
Lot 32 | Domenico Morone (c1442-1503)
Estimate value
£ 8 000 – 12 000
Domenico Morone (c.1442-1503)

The Ascension of Christ, Verona, c.1500

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST, historiated initial on vellum cut from a choirbook illuminated by Domenico Morone [Verona, c.1500].



A rare work of illumination by the pioneering Renaissance panel painter and frescoist Domenico Morone (c.1442-1503).



127 x 95mm. Historiated initial 'O' with the Ascension of Christ, reverse with fragment of text and music on a red stave (trimmed close to the edge of the miniature, a few small losses of pigment to Christ's robe and the hill in the background). Provenance: (1) The surviving cuttings associated with this miniature were all likely taken from a Franciscan gradual (the iconography of two of the cuttings indicates a Franciscan context). The majority of these cuttings were reunited by Hans-Joachim Eberhardt in 'Nuovi studi su Domenico Morone, Girolamo dai Libri e Liberale', Miniatura Veronese del Rinascimento, exh. cat., 1986, pp. 103-161. (2) Paul Graupe, Berlin sale 76, 12 December 1927, lot 50 (described as school of Mantegna) to: (3) Kurt Arnhold (1887-1951), Dresden bank and collector. (4) Sotheby’s, 23 June 1992, lot 20. (5) Maggs, European Bulletin 19, 1994, no 23.



Strongly influenced by Mantegna and Squarcione, Domenico Morone was one of the leading Veronese painters of his time. Among Domenico's earliest surviving recorded works is a Madonna and Child (Berlin, Gemäldegal.) signed and dated in 1483. Mantegna's influence is evident in this piece, and Domenico almost certainly came into contact with a Mantegnesque style through the art of Francesco Benaglio, considered to be Domenico's teacher. Throughout the 1490s Domenico led a large workshop which was involved in many great commissions including the fresco cycle for the library of San Bernardino in Verona; in this work he blended his own powers of observation with Mantegnesque spatial effects and decorative motifs. His activity as an illuminator has only relatively recently been explored, largely thanks to Hans-Joachim Eberhardt's catalogue of a 1986 exhibition of Veronese Renaissance illumination. Morone's hard, linear style, sculpturesque figures, plastic manner of rendering drapery, and rocky landscape are all evident in the present cutting. Gaudenz Freuler sees Morone as a nostalgic, classicising artist who, while paying tribute to Liberale da Verona, follows a distinct artistic path; his style more rooted in the work of the artists active at the Este court, such as Martino da Modena and Jacopo di Filippo Argenta, than of his Veronese contemporaries (see G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, 2013, II, pp.788-95).



Freuler has assembled an updated list of surviving miniatures attributable to Domenico Morone, among which we should add the present cutting (G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, II, pp.790-2). Sister-cuttings are in Berlin (Kupferstichkabinett, 629), New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975.1.2483), Philadelphia (Free Library, Lewis 45:28), and London (Victoria and Albert Museum, inv.4916 and 4924, plus a further nine foliate initials).

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
09.12.2020 – 09.12.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>