First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral - photo 1
First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral - photo 2

First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral

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£ 6 300
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1105725
Lot 5 | First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral
First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral

Descent of the Holy Spirit, cutting from an Antiphonal, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Siena, c.1290s]

An impressive miniature illuminated by one of the dominant figures of Sienese illumination in the last quarter of the 13th century: the First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral.



200 x 165mm. The historiated initial 'D' opening the Antiphon for Pentecost 'Dum complerentur', 2 visible lines of text and 3 of music on a four-line red stave, contemporary pagination in red 'XIX' (edges a little soiled, text on reverse somewhat faded, a few tiny losses of pigment to the faces, else in good condition). Mounted.



Provenance:

Koller, Zurich, 27 March 2009, lot 3527.



Illumination:

In the 2009 Koller entry Gaudenz Freuler draws artistic and iconographic parallels between this miniature, with a prophet in the margins pointing to the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles and St Peter in the foreground, and a historiated initial in an Antiphonal at Siena Cathedral (Siena, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, corale 26F, f.20), illuminated by the so-called First Master of the Choirbooks of Siena Cathedral (see A. Labriola, La miniatura senese 1270-1420, 2002, pp.30 ff. and 262-265). A dominant figure in Sienese illumination of the last quarter of the 13th century, his style is rooted in the conventions of Guido di Graziano, Dietisalvi di Speme and Guido da Siena. His career extended well into the 1320s, but his style remained remarkably consistent, which makes dating his body of work somewhat problematic (on this see G. Freuler, The McCarthy Collection: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, I, 2018, no 55, pp.175-177).



Characteristic of this illuminator is the light blue tint of the gray hair of the old people, a feature that is also evident in the Siena Antiphonal mentioned above. Other related leaves and miniatures are a historiated initial 'I' with John the Baptist in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin (No. 4688), and three historiated initials at the Free Library in Philadephia (Lewis E M 69.6, 69.7 and 69.8).

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