Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento.

570 × 270 mm. Single leaf ruled with vertical bounding lines in plummet, six four-line staves interspersed with single line of liturgical text written in dark brown ink in a formal Gothic rotunda script, versals and responsories in red initials, square notation in black ink, ONE HISTORIATED INITIAL ‘P’, three-quarter page, with Virgin and Saints painted in vibrant tones of blue, red, and gold, halos in burnished gold, initial on a richly decorated blue ground, framed with gold, white, and red foliate ornament, vertical bar extends nearly the full height of the page, terminating in a pointed foliate tail with decorative lobes and penwork embellishments, and populated with red and white rosettes, delicate tendrils, and gold bezants. Some darkening and creasing around the edges, cockling to parchment, and minor pigment loss to the historiated initial, else in fair condition.

This exceptional, enormous leaf derives from a distinguished series of Choir Books created for San Francesco al Prato in Pistoia, one of the most ambitious liturgical commissions of the late thirteenth century. It features an historiated initial ‘P’ with The Ascension, which illustrates the Third Responsory of the First Nocturne for the Feast of the Ascension (Post passionem suam per dies quadraginta...), originally fol. 202 in MS San Paolo CXIV.87.c. These volumes are among the masterpieces of the so-called Master of Sant’Alessio in Bigiano—formerly referred to as the Maestro Geometrico or Second Master of Santa Maria Novella—whose refined, expressive hand dominated manuscript illumination in Florence and central Italy during the final quarter of the thirteenth century.

The artist’s hallmark geometric initials are here elaborated into segmented architectural forms filled with intricate filigree, zigzagging vines, and gold-pellet ornamentation. The style—grounded in the Emilian miniature tradition yet invigorated by the fluidity and mass of Florentine painting—exceeds the rigidity of earlier Romanesque models. Compared to his work in the Choir Books of Santa Maria Novella (ca. 1275), the figures here exhibit greater expressive freedom and volumetric presence, likely reflecting the artist’s exposure to Cimabue’s innovations, particularly his frescoes in Santa Croce and the Maestà at Pisa. This leaf, along with the Pistoian series to which it belongs, marks a peak in the career of this prolific and influential illuminator. It offers not only exceptional aesthetic and historical value but also a rare opportunity to acquire a leaf from one of the most intellectually and artistically ambitious liturgical cycles of the Duecento.

Provenance
(1) Pistoia, San Francesco al Prato, the convent and church established in the mid-13th century—completed by 1253—and became a significant center of Franciscan devotion and liturgical activity in Tuscany.

(2) London, Bernard Shapero Rare Books.

(3) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1266.

Parent manuscript
The present leaf originally belonged to a series of Cistercian Choir Books produced for San Francesco al Prato in Pistoia, now preserved in the Archivio Diocesano, belonging to the second volume, San Paolo CXIV.87.c, containing the Proper of Time from the First Sunday of Lent to Pentecost and the Proper of Saints from the Annunciation (25 March) to the Translation of St Francis (25 May). A sister leaf from the first volume San Paolo CXIV.87.b is currently held in the McCarthy collection.

LITERATURE
Roger S. Wieck and William M. Voelkle, The Medieval Calendar: Locating Time in the Middle Ages, New York, 1992, p. 166; Enrica Neri Lusanna, Il Maestro di Sant’Alessio in Bigiano e i Corali di San Francesco al Prato a Pistoia, Florence, 2001; Dr. Jörn Günther, Antiquariat, Catalogue 6: Miniatures and Illuminated Leaves from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, 2002, p. 64; Maddalena Rafanelli, in Enrica Neri Lusanna, ed., I Corali della Cattedrale di Pistoia. Libri liturgici miniati dal XII al XVI secolo, Pistoia, 2011, pp. 97–134, 270; Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, no. 54.

We are grateful to Gaudenz Freuler for permission to quote from his catalogue for this entry, and we thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.

The Robert McCarthy Collection