![ST PAUL, historiated initial 'P' cut from an illuminated Atlantic Bible on vellum [Bologna, c.1270]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0005_000(st_paul_historiated_initial_p_cut_from_an_illuminated_atlantic_bible_o070322).jpg?w=1)
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ST PAUL, historiated initial 'P' cut from an illuminated Atlantic Bible on vellum [Bologna, c.1270]
A testament to Bolognese artistic expression at the turn of the 13th century: a survival from an Italian Atlantic Bible, illuminated in the style of the Master of Bagnacavallo and the Master of Imola.
451 x 165mm. The text opens St Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Framed. Provenance: The present fragment has companions in a number of private and public collections, and was once part of an imposing 13th-century Italian Atlantic Bible (for a partial reconstruction see G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, I, pp.154-159). Most surviving cuttings are from the letters of Peter and Paul. With the exception of a leaf with the Epistle of Jude and two further pages in a private collection, all remaining fragments also lack their second column of writing. Among these was a cutting from the Breslauer collection, sold at Christie's, 11 December 2002, lot 1.
The present fragment and its sister cuttings have been associated with the Master of Bagnacavallo (an older and more archaic contemporary of the so-called Master of Imola), so named from the illuminations by his workshop in the choirbooks Mss. 1-3 in the Biblioteca Comunale Taroni in Bagnacavallo. The Master also provided some of the illumination for another refectory Bible, in four volumes, and datable around 1270 (Cesena, Biblioteca Malatestiana, Ms D.XXI.1). It is probable that rather than the output of a single, identifiable artist, this is the product of a style prevalent in Emilia Romagna (but also Florence) at the time. Nevertheless, as Freuler points out (Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, 2013, I, pp.154-159), there are certain consistent types and stylistic features found in the various representations of St Paul from the surviving fragments: the narrow faces, bulbous heads, the pointed beards. Stylistic comparables are also found in the work of the Master of Sant'Alessio in Bigiano, also known as the 'Maestro Geometrico', who contributed to the illumination of the choirbooks for Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
A testament to Bolognese artistic expression at the turn of the 13th century: a survival from an Italian Atlantic Bible, illuminated in the style of the Master of Bagnacavallo and the Master of Imola.
451 x 165mm. The text opens St Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Framed. Provenance: The present fragment has companions in a number of private and public collections, and was once part of an imposing 13th-century Italian Atlantic Bible (for a partial reconstruction see G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, I, pp.154-159). Most surviving cuttings are from the letters of Peter and Paul. With the exception of a leaf with the Epistle of Jude and two further pages in a private collection, all remaining fragments also lack their second column of writing. Among these was a cutting from the Breslauer collection, sold at Christie's, 11 December 2002, lot 1.
The present fragment and its sister cuttings have been associated with the Master of Bagnacavallo (an older and more archaic contemporary of the so-called Master of Imola), so named from the illuminations by his workshop in the choirbooks Mss. 1-3 in the Biblioteca Comunale Taroni in Bagnacavallo. The Master also provided some of the illumination for another refectory Bible, in four volumes, and datable around 1270 (Cesena, Biblioteca Malatestiana, Ms D.XXI.1). It is probable that rather than the output of a single, identifiable artist, this is the product of a style prevalent in Emilia Romagna (but also Florence) at the time. Nevertheless, as Freuler points out (Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, 2013, I, pp.154-159), there are certain consistent types and stylistic features found in the various representations of St Paul from the surviving fragments: the narrow faces, bulbous heads, the pointed beards. Stylistic comparables are also found in the work of the Master of Sant'Alessio in Bigiano, also known as the 'Maestro Geometrico', who contributed to the illumination of the choirbooks for Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
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