![THE CRUCIFIXION, initial 'D' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [northern Italy, c.1250-75]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0007_000(the_crucifixion_initial_d_cut_from_an_illuminated_choirbook_on_vellum084035).jpg?w=1)
Details
THE CRUCIFIXION, initial 'D' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [northern Italy, c.1250-75]
The style of the initial has an Emilian flavour, with certain references – such as the definition of the faces with barely articulated features – bringing to mind the later miniatures by the Tuscan Master of the Laudario B.R. 18.
150 x 125mm, the reverse with two lines of text and music on a four-line stave, including part of the chant for the feasts of the Exaltation and Invention of the Cross ‘[Hoc signum crucis] erit in ce[lo cum domin]us ad iu[dicandum]’; the initial therefore probably introduces the Matins antiphon ‘D[ulce lignum] d[ulces clavos]’.
Provenance:
Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Swiss archaeologist, art historian, collector, and director of the Archaeological Museum of Strasbourg from 1909 to 1939; with his usual ink stamp on the reverse (Lugt, Marques, no 941a). The present cutting is apparently not included in the two published volumes of Forrer’s collection of manuscript leaves and cuttings (1902, 1907), suggesting that he acquired it after 1907. Although not a dealer, Forrer supplemented his income and helped to fund his archaeological digs by forming and then and selling various collections of medieval and Renaissance items: in 1899, for example, the Victoria & Albert Museum bought from him a collection of 1200 pieces of textile. For a detailed biography, see Bernadette Schnitzler, Robert Forrer, 1866-1947: archéologue, écrivain et antiquaire (Strasbourg, 1999).
The style of the initial has an Emilian flavour, with certain references – such as the definition of the faces with barely articulated features – bringing to mind the later miniatures by the Tuscan Master of the Laudario B.R. 18.
150 x 125mm, the reverse with two lines of text and music on a four-line stave, including part of the chant for the feasts of the Exaltation and Invention of the Cross ‘[Hoc signum crucis] erit in ce[lo cum domin]us ad iu[dicandum]’; the initial therefore probably introduces the Matins antiphon ‘D[ulce lignum] d[ulces clavos]’.
Provenance:
Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Swiss archaeologist, art historian, collector, and director of the Archaeological Museum of Strasbourg from 1909 to 1939; with his usual ink stamp on the reverse (Lugt, Marques, no 941a). The present cutting is apparently not included in the two published volumes of Forrer’s collection of manuscript leaves and cuttings (1902, 1907), suggesting that he acquired it after 1907. Although not a dealer, Forrer supplemented his income and helped to fund his archaeological digs by forming and then and selling various collections of medieval and Renaissance items: in 1899, for example, the Victoria & Albert Museum bought from him a collection of 1200 pieces of textile. For a detailed biography, see Bernadette Schnitzler, Robert Forrer, 1866-1947: archéologue, écrivain et antiquaire (Strasbourg, 1999).
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