![HARROWING OF HELL, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours [eastern Netherlands, c.1475]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0024_000(harrowing_of_hell_miniature_on_a_leaf_from_a_book_of_hours_eastern_net094221).jpg?w=1)
Details
HARROWING OF HELL, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours [eastern Netherlands, c.1475]
A delicately rendered miniature illuminated by the Masters of the Zwolle Bible, the artists whose works can be grouped with the illumination of the monumental 6-volume Bible (Utrecht University Library, Ms. 31) made by the Community of the Brethren of the Common Life at Zwolle – followers of the Devotio Moderna – between 1464 and 1476 for the Chapter of St Mary's in Utrecht.
135 x 100mm. Framed.
Provenance:
The style of the present miniature and its dimensions match a Book of Hours made for use of Utrecht and illuminated by the Masters of the Zwolle Bible, sold in these rooms (25 November 1992, lot 14; later appearing at Sotheby's, 2 July 2013, lot 70): these Hours – apparently made for one 'Tho[mas] Joffe' (according to a 15th-century ex-libris in Dutch) – are lacking a number of inserted miniatures.
The present miniature displays their characteristic style, which is 'finely decorated but never excessively or exaggeratedly opulent. Palettes are confined to a relatively small number of colours, among which pink, red, blue and green figure largely. Often these colours are kept pale, and the illumination has a quality of extreme lightness' (The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, p.244).
A delicately rendered miniature illuminated by the Masters of the Zwolle Bible, the artists whose works can be grouped with the illumination of the monumental 6-volume Bible (Utrecht University Library, Ms. 31) made by the Community of the Brethren of the Common Life at Zwolle – followers of the Devotio Moderna – between 1464 and 1476 for the Chapter of St Mary's in Utrecht.
135 x 100mm. Framed.
Provenance:
The style of the present miniature and its dimensions match a Book of Hours made for use of Utrecht and illuminated by the Masters of the Zwolle Bible, sold in these rooms (25 November 1992, lot 14; later appearing at Sotheby's, 2 July 2013, lot 70): these Hours – apparently made for one 'Tho[mas] Joffe' (according to a 15th-century ex-libris in Dutch) – are lacking a number of inserted miniatures.
The present miniature displays their characteristic style, which is 'finely decorated but never excessively or exaggeratedly opulent. Palettes are confined to a relatively small number of colours, among which pink, red, blue and green figure largely. Often these colours are kept pale, and the illumination has a quality of extreme lightness' (The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, p.244).
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Robert Tyrwhitt