![FEMALE MARTYR, initial 'S' on a leaf from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Florence, c.1340s]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0012_000(female_martyr_initial_s_on_a_leaf_from_an_illuminated_antiphonal_on_ve084101).jpg?w=1)
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FEMALE MARTYR, initial 'S' on a leaf from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Florence, c.1340s]
A charming example of the late work of one of the great illuminators of 14th-century Florence: Pacino di Buonaguida.
410 x 292mm, ruled space: 310 x 205mm, the initial opens the Incipit of the Responsory 'Sanctificamini hodie' for the Vigil of the Nativity, recto with one large red initial and one large blue initial flourished blue, and extensive rubrics in red.
Provenance:
In terms of size, number and size of staves and style, the present leaf seems belongs to the same choirbook or series of choirbooks as an Antiphonal leaf in Geneva, Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Com. Lat. 74, The Annunciation in an Initial M; also part of this group are nos 53.1 and 53.2 in G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, 2013, II, pp.528-533. Freuler dates these leaves to 1335-1340, a period in which Pacino collaborated with the Master of the Dominican Effigies (prominently on the occasion of the illustration of the Laudario). The leaves belonged to the Florentine art dealer Carlo Bruscoli: the present leaf has a pencil inscription in Italian on the reverse in the lower right hand corner — Tape on the top line of reverse with a note '(A) 7577 Duchesnes' [sic].
Pacino was both painter and illuminator, but the final phase of his career appears to have been dedicated exclusively to manuscripts. His style was popular and his workshop productive, and he came to dominate Florentine manuscript production in the first half of the 14th century. His own contributions to his most prestigious commissions - in particular the Laudario of the confraternity of Sant'Agnese di Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence - perfectly exemplify the qualities that caused his success. The present initial, with the distinctive palette of varying tonalities of red and blue and the delicate treatment of the saint's face and hands, is highly characteristic of the work of Pacino.
A charming example of the late work of one of the great illuminators of 14th-century Florence: Pacino di Buonaguida.
410 x 292mm, ruled space: 310 x 205mm, the initial opens the Incipit of the Responsory 'Sanctificamini hodie' for the Vigil of the Nativity, recto with one large red initial and one large blue initial flourished blue, and extensive rubrics in red.
Provenance:
In terms of size, number and size of staves and style, the present leaf seems belongs to the same choirbook or series of choirbooks as an Antiphonal leaf in Geneva, Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Com. Lat. 74, The Annunciation in an Initial M; also part of this group are nos 53.1 and 53.2 in G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, 2013, II, pp.528-533. Freuler dates these leaves to 1335-1340, a period in which Pacino collaborated with the Master of the Dominican Effigies (prominently on the occasion of the illustration of the Laudario). The leaves belonged to the Florentine art dealer Carlo Bruscoli: the present leaf has a pencil inscription in Italian on the reverse in the lower right hand corner — Tape on the top line of reverse with a note '(A) 7577 Duchesnes' [sic].
Pacino was both painter and illuminator, but the final phase of his career appears to have been dedicated exclusively to manuscripts. His style was popular and his workshop productive, and he came to dominate Florentine manuscript production in the first half of the 14th century. His own contributions to his most prestigious commissions - in particular the Laudario of the confraternity of Sant'Agnese di Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence - perfectly exemplify the qualities that caused his success. The present initial, with the distinctive palette of varying tonalities of red and blue and the delicate treatment of the saint's face and hands, is highly characteristic of the work of Pacino.
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