The Dormition of the Virgin, in a historiated initial on a very large leaf from an Antiphonary, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum.  [Italy (Venice), mid to late 14th century]

£8,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Text and illumination: The rubric reads ‘In laudib[us] et p[er] hor[um]. A[ntiphona]’ (the antiphon for Lauds and [the following] hours) and the initial introduces the text ‘Viri Galilei quid aspiciatis in celum …’ (Acts 1:11, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven?’). According to medieval Eastern tradition, the Virgin Mary did not die, she fell asleep and was assumed (raised) to heaven, so the iconography of her final hour is usually called her ‘Dormition’ rather than death, but the corresponding feast-day in western Europe is usually called the ‘Assumption’. Surprisingly, the artist of the present leaf has made a mistake. This text does not belong to the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, but the Ascension of Christ (when he ascended into heaven, forty days after the Resurrection). The style of illumination is Venetian, heavily influenced by Byzantine art – especially in the use of green to model the shadows of the figures’ faces – due to Venice’s role as the main trading port with Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople). Specifically the style is shared with a group of manuscripts produced in Venice in the 1360s–80s; they are attributed to Giustino di Gheradino da Forlì, whose name occurs in a Gradual dated 1365 made for the Scuola Grande di Sant Maria della Carità, Venice. It is not certain whether Giustino was the artist, however, or if the name perhaps refers to the scribe. Nonetheless, until the issue can be more thoroughly investigated, Giustino

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