Giorgio d`Alemagna (documented 1441-1462) - photo 1
Giorgio d`Alemagna (documented 1441-1462) - photo 2

Giorgio d`Alemagna (documented 1441-1462)

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£ 10 080
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1105559
Lot 14 | Giorgio d'Alemagna (documented 1441-1462)
Giorgio d'Alemagna (documented 1441-1462)

St Luke, historiated initial on a leaf from the Breviary of Lionello d'Este, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Ferrara, c.1441-1448]

A splendid miniature by Giorgio d'Alemagna on a leaf from a masterpiece of Ferrarese illumination, the Breviary of Lionello d'Este, also known as the Llangattock Breviary.



271 x 200mm. Two columns of 30 lines written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand, the text from the Feasts of Sts Francis (4 October); Sergius, Bacchus and Apuleius (7 Ocober); Dionysius, Rusticius and Eleutherius (9 October); Calixtus (14 October); and Luke (18 October): '[quoque mercandi modo negotia]tionem mundanam in evagelicam [sic] commutare' to 'pro tui nominis honore portavit per [dominum]', rubrics in red, 9 two-line illuminated initials, full-length bar borders of burnished gold terminating with floral and sprays, one five-line historiated initial (light marginal thumbing, small loss of pigment to Luke's dais, slight cropping to upper margins, small horizontal and vertical cut to one column of text, not affecting text).



Provenance:

(1) All aspects of the manuscript – size, format and illumination – correspond to those of the Missal of Borso d'Este, marquis and then duke of Ferrara (Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Ms W.5.2, lat. 239) and the Breviary was certainly made either for him or his predecessor Lionello, and intended, like the Missal, for use in the ruler’s chapel. It is now usually identified with the Breviary recorded in accounts in the d’Este archives as having been illuminated for Lionello by Giorgio d’Alemagna, Bartolomeo di Benincà, Guglielmo Giraldi and Matteo de' Pasti.



(2) The parent manuscript was sold at Christie’s, 8 December 1958, lot 190, as part of the estate of the 2nd Baron Llangattock. It carried the bookplate of John Etherington Welch Rolls (1807-1870), father of the 1st Baron Llangattock. Many miniatures had already been removed (supposedly by soldiers during the Peninsular War) and after the sale the remaining leaves were separated and dispersed. Sister leaves were sold recently at Christie’s, 30 July 2020, lot 3; and 5-19 October 2023, lots 205 and 206.



(3) This leaf sold at Christie's, 25 June 1997, lot 7, and subsequently:



(4) Sotheby's, 8 December 2015, lot 57.



Illumination:

The Breviary, a masterpiece of Ferrarese illumination, was written by Francesco de Codigoro, with Giorgio d’Alemagna as its principal illuminator, but in 1443, because of the enormity of the project, Giorgio enlisted the help of Bartolomeo de Benincà, Matteo de’ Pasti (a pupil of Pisanello) and Guglielmo Giraldi. The meticulous handling and bright yet delicate palette of the fine historiated initial depicting St Luke as Evangelist (with his ox) and artist (painting the Virgin Mary) has confidently been attributed to Giorgio d'Alemagna himself. The most comprehensive recent study of the Breviary is F. Toniolo, ‘Il lungo viaggio del Breviario di Lionello d'Este tra le due sponde dell'Atlantico’, Medioevo: arte e storia, 2008, pp.564-77 (see also Toniolo in Les Enluminures du Louvre, 2011, no 45). A virtual reconstruction of the manuscript can be found on the 'Broken Books' website (brokenbooks.omeka.net), where the present leaf is listed.

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