WORKSHOP OF CRISTOFORO CORTESE (active Venice, c. 1390-before 1445)
A leaf from a Gradual, with a historiated initial ‘E’ of Saints Philip and James, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Northern Italy, Venice, c. 1400-1415]

By the most important and prolific Venetian illuminator of the first half of the fifteenth century, working in a mature late Gothic idiom and also active as a painter.

358 x 275 mm (framed). Single leaf, original foliation ‘CXIII’ in red ink in the center of the upper border, ruled in light brown for eight lines of script and eight staves (written space: 320 x 230 mm), staves of four red lines (21 mm), square notation, written in brown ink in a rounded gothic bookhand, capitals touched with yellow, rubrics in red, one-line initial in red, one TWO-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL in light pink on blue, yellow, and green grounds, with white tracery throughout, framed with black, extending into blue, light brown, red, and green acanthus leaves with white dots and hatching (transfers of color below the initial, minor stains, slight cockling of the parchment on the edges, else in good condition).

This leaf comes from a Gradual and includes parts of the Sanctoral reading on the recto from St. Tiburtius and Valerian (April 14) to St. Vitalis (April 28) with cues only, followed with the feast of Philip and James (May 3) given in full, here with the Introit and beginning of the Psalm. Introducing the feast is a large historiated initial ‘E’ for “Exclamavit” depicting Philip and James.

Both saints appear at half-length and in profile in the foreground of the initial, their faces imbued with individualized emotions. This leaf can be attributed to the workshop of Cristoforo Cortese, the most accomplished Venetian illuminator of the early fifteenth century, as is suggested by the delicate modelling and shading of the saints’ faces in thin brushstrokes, the carefully detailed hair, and the hastened execution of the hands and draperies. Further characteristic stylistic features include the use of a light palette of yellow, green, blue, and brown for the initial, and the tracery of white filigree used to detail the letter and to delineate the scalloped edges of the leaves. The use of yellow or light pink is further indication of a date before 1420, thus early in the artist’s career, as this color appears less often in later works of the Venice workshop (Panayotova 2012, p. 186). This leaf thus comes from an as-yet unidentified Gradual that certainly dates from the early years of Cristoforo Cortese’s career.

Provenance
Kenneth W. Rendell, Massachusetts.

Sister leaves
A sister leaf of similar format but with wider margins from an American private collection appeared recently on the site of Keegan Goepfert, as attributed to Cristoforo Cortese and wrongly identified as an Antiphonal leaf. It is also laid out with eight staves of four red-lines, with an identical height (rastrum: 21 mm). Further similarities include the choice of light yellow and pink over burnished gold for the historiated initial, the script of the rounded gothic bookhand, and the foliation in Roman numerals. No other sister leaves have surfaced to date.

LITERATURE
Further literature on the artist, see Stella Panayotova, “Cristoforo Cortese in Cambridge,” in Miniatura. Lo sguardo e la parola: Studi in onore di Giordana Mariani Canova, 2012, pp. 186-189; Federica Toniolo, in Sandra Hindman and Federica Toniolo, eds., The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Painting, 2021, pp. 367-387.

We thank Federica Toniolo for her assistance with the attribution. Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.

The Collection of Kenneth W. Rendell

WORKSHOP OF CRISTOFORO CORTESE (active Venice, c. 1390-before 1445)A leaf from a Gradual, with a historiated initial ‘E’ of Saints Philip and James, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Northern Italy, Venice, c. 1400-1415]

WORKSHOP OF CRISTOFORO CORTESE (active Venice, c. 1390-before 1445)
A leaf from a Gradual, with a historiated initial ‘E’ of Saints Philip and James, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Northern Italy, Venice, c. 1400-1415]