Processional leaf with historiated initial C containing skull & bone, illuminated manuscript on vellum.

£5,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A handsome leaf from a North Italian processional, from the Office of the Dead (the initial opening a responsory ‘Credo quod redemptor…’), beautifully illuminated in exquisite detail by a highly skilled artist working in the style of Paduan-born illuminator Benedetto Bordone (fl.1488-1530). The striking initial is highly unusual, the skull and bones painted almost spectrally. The artist uses grisaille here to great effect, particularly in contrast to the bright magenta grounds of the border cartouches, and the green of the opening initial; their finesse is further shown in the delightful vignette of the standing figure, with the delicate and skilful handling of his robes, highlighted in white. The same border arrangement and illumination style can be found in a fragment of 29 leaves from a Processional, part of the Hofer Collection at Houghton Library, Harvard, MS Typ 310 (digitised and online via Hollis; see Roger S. Wieck, Late Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts , 1983, 131 and pl.52). In particular f.11 of the Hofer manuscript corresponds to the present leaf, also with the opening initial containing a skull and bones - slightly differently arranged - and with historiated cartouches at top and bottom, though not executed in the same detail, and using a different colour palette. Bordone was an illuminator, printmaker, scholar and writer, first recorded in a document of his marriage in 1480 - described there as miniator , miniaturist - who moved to Venice in 149

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