Master of the Gerona Bible (active 1260-90s) - photo 1
Master of the Gerona Bible (active 1260-90s) - photo 2

Master of the Gerona Bible (active 1260-90s)

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£ 22 680
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1105658
Lot 4 | Master of the Gerona Bible (active 1260-90s)
Master of the Gerona Bible (active 1260-90s)

The Ascension of Christ, historiated initial on a leaf from a Gradual, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bologna, c.1290s]

A splendidly illuminated leaf by the Master of the Gerona Bible, 'a paragon of illuminators', one of the principal protagonists of Bolognese illumination at the dawn of the 14th century.



450 x 351mm. The initial 'V' opening the Introit for the Mass of the Ascension: 'Viri Galilei quid admiramini aspicientes in coelum?' ('Men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven?'), with acanthus terminals extending into the margin; 7 lines of music and text on recto and verso (some fading of text, tiny loss of pigment to the face of the Virgin). Mounted.



Provenance:

(1) Gaudenz Freuler (Italian Miniatures, 2013, I, no 10, p.166) posits that the present leaf may have been part of the same Gradual as a King David praying to God in an initial 'A' and the Blessing of Christ in an initial 'B' (10.1 and 10.2 in the catalogue), though he leaves open the possibility that it may have been part of a slightly later choirbook produced with the Master of the Gerona Bible's workshop.



(2) Lucerne, Fischer, 21-22 November 1977, lot 795.



(3) Christie's, 12 June 2013, lot 2.



Illumination:

Although the miniature evidently displays the markers of the eastern, Byzantine style that was becoming so popular in Bolognese illumination towards the end of the 13th century, the 'luminous anatomical and physical articulation of the figures' (Freuler, 2013, p.166) and their remarkable physicality; the emphasis given to animating the heavily modelled faces, with brows and noses heightened by touches of white; and the compositional sensitivity displayed here by the Master of the Gerona Bible and his workshop all point to a particularly innovative artistic aspiration that Freuler sees as emerging from the traditions of Cimabue, but closely intertwined with Giotto. The Master was named after the famous Bible in the Biblioteca Capitolare della Cattedrale in Gerona (Ms.10), and has in the past been identified as Franco da Bologna, celebrated in Dante's Purgatorio as the greatest Italian illuminator of his time (Purgatorio, XI, 79-84).

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