ID 870903
Lot 33 | Simonzio Lupi da Bergamo (fl. second half 16th century]
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
St Martin and the Beggar, miniature on vellum from the Collectar of Francesco Maria II Della Rovere [Bergamo, c.1556-1575]
A splendid miniature from the Collectar of Francesco Maria II Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, securely attributed by E. De Laurentiis to Simonzio Lupi da Bergamo, the artist responsible for the illustration of the celebrated Triumphs of Charles V at the British Library.
142 x 185mm, the reverse with the collect for All Saints (1 November) 'Omnipotens sempiterne Deus [...]', which would have faced the preceding miniature, written in a contemporary humanistic hand. 17th-century double-sided gilt frame.
Provenance:
(1) Francesco Maria II Della Rovere (1548-1631), Duke of Urbino. On the partial reconstruction of the Collectar, see M. Trjulja, 'I miniatori di Francesco Maria II Della Rovere', 1631-1981. Un omaggio ai Della Rovere. Saggi. Schede di opere d'arte restaurate, 1981, pp.33-38, 77-80 and, more recently, E. De Laurentiis, 'La Collezione di "Italian Illuminated Cuttings" della British Library: nuove miniature di Simonzio Lupi da Bergamo, Giovanni Battista Castello il Genovese e Sante Avanzini', Il codice miniato in Europa. Libri per la chiesa, per la città, per la corte, 2014, pp. 673-695.
(2) Vittoria Della Rovere (1622-1694), Grand duchess of Tuscany. The 1654 inventory of her collection mentions the Collectar, but from the 1692 inventory we glean that it had already been broken up, with the miniatures mounted and framed as ours appears today (see Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Guardaroba Medicea, 674, f.59 and 992, f.78).
(3) Tajan, Paris, 24 June 2020, lot 19.
Ten leaves from the manuscript are in the Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti; one with the Martyrdom of St Bartholomew is British Library, Add MS 46365B; one with the Martyrdoms of Sts Philip and James is at Valencia, Museo de Bellas Artes de san Pío V, Colección Real Academia de San Carlos, inv. general 372; one with the Crucifixion of a Martyr is at Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Inv. n. 1920.1032; one with the Martyrdom of St James is at Princeton University Art Museum, y1940-420; one leaf in a private Italian collection; one with the Adoration of the Magi was sold at Christie's on 28 November 2001, lot 8; and a further leaf with the Birth of the Baptist, which would have faced the British Library leaf, was sold at Christie's on 11 July 2018, lot 37. Further additions to this reconstructed corpus have recently been published by De Laurentiis, including the present miniature, in 'Un Giudizio in miniatura. Simonzio Lupi da Bergamo', Alumina. Pagine miniate 70, 2021, pp.6-13.
De Laurentiis indicates how most of the compositions of the Collectar were based on models engraved by Cornelis Cort, Marcantonio Raimondi, Julius and Hendrik Goltzius, Johannes Sadeler from drawings by the Flemish painter Maarten de Vos. The present miniature is influenced by an engraving by Adriaen Collaert from a drawing by Giovanni Stradano, with the scene here occurring in open countryside.
Special notice
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
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