Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Richly illuminated cutting of an initial ‘G’ comes from a deluxe Choir Book most likely of Parisian origin.

127 × 129 mm. Single square cutting, verso bears three partial lines of text written in black ink in a Gothic bookhand with musical staves in red ink (rastum 20 mm), the rubric and opening of Psalm 32, HISTORIATED INITIAL ‘G’ with saints in white and pink on gold ground, at least five saints standing on a tiled floor below a bright blue sky identified on the basis of their attributes: Saint Paul (with sword) holding hands with Saint Peter, Saint Constantine (cross), Saint Lawrence (gridiron), and Saint Dionysius (decapitated). A smudge to Saint Dionysius affects his face. Minor losses to paint and gold, and abrasions here and there, else in good condition. 
 
With its refined gold ground, cool tonal palette, and scalloped ornament, this illumination displays the style of Jean Pichore, one of the most celebrated illuminators in France, whose workshop dominated the Parisian market by the early sixteenth century. It also bears traces of the Rouen school, with influences from the Master of the Échevinage of Rouen and his circle (e.g., Morgan Library and Museum, MS H.1). The prominent outlining of the faces and robes—especially around the eyes and mouths—suggests stylistic proximity to Rouen workshops, whereas the delicate handling of the gold background and the cool tonal palette (rose-pink and pale blue) are more characteristic of the Pichore school in Paris. Pichore was active in Rouen around 1501–1503, where he executed a luxurious manuscript of Saint Augustine’s De Civitate Dei (now Rouen, Bib. mun., MS 1132) for Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, one of France’s most powerful ecclesiastics. Pichore’s designs continued to be widely copied in Rouen by followers and imitators, many of whom later relocated to Paris and even collaborated directly with him.
 
Introducing the Feast of All Saints (November 1) in an early sixteenth-century Gradual of Parisian origin, this richly illuminated initial ‘G’ opened the introit Gaudeamus omnes in Domino Text on the reverse (Ps. 32, Exultate iusti in Domino), along with the imagery in the initial, confirm this identification, and the size of the initial suggests a substantial volume. Localization of the parent Choir Book in Paris is suggested by the presence of its patron saint, Denis, holding his decapitated head. Cuttings such as this one are related to those also by Jean Pichore from what must have been an opulent, multivolume Gradual made for Louis XII and Anne of Brittany, whose original content and composition still needs to be sorted out (see de Hamel, 2010).

Provenance
(1) From a large Gradual, potentially of monastic origin, the presence of Saint Dionysius, patron of Paris, likely indicates Parisian patronage.

(2) Catalog number “07-375” on reverse.

 (3) Private Collection.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; see: Jane H. M. Taylor, “Jean Pichore’s Workshop and the Illustration of Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptameron,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 74:3 (1992), pp. 67–84; François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440–1520, Paris, 1993, pp. 282–293; Myra D. Orth, “Jean Pichore and the French Renaissance Book,” Renaissance Studies, 7 (1993), pp. 410–435; Caroline Zöhl, Jean Pichore: Buchmaler, Graphiker und Verleger in Paris um 1500, Turnhout, 2004; Myra D. Orth, Renaissance Manuscripts: The Sixteenth Century (A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France), 2 vols., London, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 192–208; C. de Hamel, Gilding the Lily, Bloomington, Indiana, 2010, no. 83, p. 183; Roger S. Wieck, Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections, Boston, 2016, cat. no. 24.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.