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Details
THREE MARIES AT THE TOMB, initial 'A' cut from a choirbook, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Bologna, c.1310]
246 x 170mm. The upper compartment of the grey initial is filled with a decorative panel of pink with foliate forms of green, blue, pink, red and yellow, in the lower compartment the three Maries stand by the tomb left empty by the risen Christ, the angel, his red skin showing 'his countenance was as lightning', explains the miraculous event to the Virgin, verso with three lines of text written in black ink in a round gothic bookhand between three lines of music of square notation on a four-line red stave (scored line in upper half of initial, small losses of gold from haloes of angel and Virgin, a few other small pigment losses, smudges or marks).
This exceptionally large initial can be attributed to Nerio da Bologna 'the strongest artistic personality in Bolognese illumination' in the first decades of the 14th century. The stylistic development evident across his career shows an increasing emphasis upon the description of three-dimensional form, and the elegant and linear treatment of drapery folds in this miniature suggest that it is an early work painted at a time when Bolognese illumination still showed strong Byzantine influence. The composition itself seems dependent upon the great initial of the same subject in the Fondazione Cini that is usually dated around 1300: G. Mariani Canova, Miniature dell'Italia settentrionale nella Fondazione Giorgio Cini (1978), no 5.
The initial undoubtedly opened the response Angelus domini descendit de celo for matins at Easter.
with
TWO 12TH-CENTURY HISTORIATED INITIALS: a young saint in three-quarter length in an initial 'U', 87 x 73mm overall; and a bearded prophet bust-length in an initial 'C', 67 x 58mm overall, [probably Tuscany, third quarter 12th century]. Skeletal and interlace staves of yellow wash around patterned panels of red, blue and green, initials and saints all against a continuous ground of rich blue (cut to shape, 'U' rubbed and small crayon marks, loss of pigment to face and sleeve, 'C' nick from upper right side, crease across saint's forehead with resulting pigment loss). (3)
[Bologna, c.1310]
246 x 170mm. The upper compartment of the grey initial is filled with a decorative panel of pink with foliate forms of green, blue, pink, red and yellow, in the lower compartment the three Maries stand by the tomb left empty by the risen Christ, the angel, his red skin showing 'his countenance was as lightning', explains the miraculous event to the Virgin, verso with three lines of text written in black ink in a round gothic bookhand between three lines of music of square notation on a four-line red stave (scored line in upper half of initial, small losses of gold from haloes of angel and Virgin, a few other small pigment losses, smudges or marks).
This exceptionally large initial can be attributed to Nerio da Bologna 'the strongest artistic personality in Bolognese illumination' in the first decades of the 14th century. The stylistic development evident across his career shows an increasing emphasis upon the description of three-dimensional form, and the elegant and linear treatment of drapery folds in this miniature suggest that it is an early work painted at a time when Bolognese illumination still showed strong Byzantine influence. The composition itself seems dependent upon the great initial of the same subject in the Fondazione Cini that is usually dated around 1300: G. Mariani Canova, Miniature dell'Italia settentrionale nella Fondazione Giorgio Cini (1978), no 5.
The initial undoubtedly opened the response Angelus domini descendit de celo for matins at Easter.
with
TWO 12TH-CENTURY HISTORIATED INITIALS: a young saint in three-quarter length in an initial 'U', 87 x 73mm overall; and a bearded prophet bust-length in an initial 'C', 67 x 58mm overall, [probably Tuscany, third quarter 12th century]. Skeletal and interlace staves of yellow wash around patterned panels of red, blue and green, initials and saints all against a continuous ground of rich blue (cut to shape, 'U' rubbed and small crayon marks, loss of pigment to face and sleeve, 'C' nick from upper right side, crease across saint's forehead with resulting pigment loss). (3)
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