Venturino Mercati (active 1470s) - photo 1

Venturino Mercati (active 1470s)

Starting price
£ 6 500
Auction dateClassic
08.11.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1053176
Lot 62 | Venturino Mercati (active 1470s)
Venturino Mercati (active 1470s)
St Peter, historiated initial 'L' on a leaf from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Lombardy or Siena, c.1470s]
A pristine example of the work of the Lombard illuminator Venturino Mercati, or Venturino d'Andrea da Milano, active in Lombardy, Tuscany and Emilia during the 1470s.

450 x 310mm, the historiated initial 'L' opening 'Levavi oculos meos ad montes', the beginning of Psalm 121, 7 lines of text and music on a 4-line stave, reverse with one penwork initial in red (some cockling and marginal staining).

Provenance:
(1) Perhaps from the same parent manuscript as a group of at least three cuttings sold in 1873 to Enrico Cernuschi (1821-1896), of Paris and Menton; his sale Paris, 25 May 1900, lots 147 and 153-54. A further two are from the openings of Psalms 53 and 80 (Maggs Bulletin 5, 1967, no 13; and A. De Floriani in F. Todini, ed., La Spezia, Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, Miniature, 1996, pp. 56-58, no 10). A final cutting with King David opening Psalm 27 was sold at Sotheby's, 7 July 2009, lot 8.

(2) This cutting sold at Sotheby's, 18 June 1996, lot 23.

(3) BEL, Illuminations, 1996, no 13, there attributed to Venturino Mercati da Milano.

(4) Christie's, 11 December 2019, lot 209.

(5) Schøyen Collection, MS 5616.

Illumination:
Indebted to the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, Belbello da Pavia, Jacopo da Balsemo, and the Master of Ippolita Sforza, from whom he inherits the two-dimensional rendering of drapery and the electric backgrounds, Venturino Mercati is best known for his work on a series of choirbooks produced for Monteoliveto Maggiore in Siena (Chiusi, Museo della Cattedrale, MSS B, C, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, M and N).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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