The Coëtivy Master (active 1450-1485) - photo 1
The Coëtivy Master (active 1450-1485) - photo 2

The Coëtivy Master (active 1450-1485)

Sold
£ 25 200
Auction dateClassic
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 993343
Lot 21 | The Coëtivy Master (active 1450-1485)
The Coëtivy Master (active 1450-1485)

David in Penitence, miniature on a leaf from an illuminated Book of Hours on vellum [Paris, c.1470s]

An elegant miniature by the Coëtivy Master, one of the great painters of the French Court.



188 x 134 mm, large arched miniature above four lines of text and a four-line initial surrounded by a full border with lozenge-shaped compartments, the miniature depicting David kneeling before his palace, his harp at his side, looking up at an angel holding the blade of a sword, and pointing up at a bust of Christ, in heaven, the text comprising the start of the Seven Penitential Psalms, laid down on card, the reverse with '961' in red and ‘1052’ in pencil (trimmed to the edges of the border, with a few very minor blemishes, but generally in very fine condition). Mounted and framed.



Illumination:

The miniature is the work of the Coëtivy Master, active in Paris from c.1450-1485. Called by Avril and Reynaud ‘the most important artist practising in Paris in the third quarter of the century’, the Master is named for a Book of Hours painted for the chamberlain of Charles VII, Olivier de Coëtivy, and his wife Marie de Valois (Vienna, ÖNB cod 1929); he also worked across the figural arts as a panel painter, a designer of stained glass and of tapestries. His illustrious clients included Louis XI's brother, Charles of France; his work adorned the great Parisian church of Saint-Séverin and royal courts. Described as the third great painter of the French court with Jean Fouquet and Barthélemy d'Eyck, he has most recently been identified as Colin d'Amiens, recorded in Paris 1461-88. Colin's only documented work, a monumental stone Entombment group carved by Adrien Wincart in 1495-6 to his design, is compatible with the oeuvre assembled for the Coëtivy Master but cannot conclusively prove the identification (F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1460-1520, 1993, pp.58-69; D. Thiébaut et al, Primitifs français, Découvertes et redécouvertes, 2004, pp.97-102). He is famed for his painterly technique, eloquent figures and detailed atmospheric landscapes, all of which are present in this composition of David, kneeling, harp at his side, his grand, turreted palace in the background.

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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12.07.2023 – 12.07.2023
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