GERMANO PROSDOCIMI, attr. (Italy, b. 1819; d. 1886-1906)
Single leaf, Saint Michael the Archangel, tempera on vellum (223 x 164 mm.) [Italy, Venice, 1860s?]

Skillful neo-Gothic copy after the Grimani Breviary, a witness to “manuscript painting in the modern age.”

Father of Alberto Prosdocimi (1852-1923), known for his scenic views of Venetian architecture and portraits, Germano was especially known for his copies of miniatures in the celebrated Grimani Breviary. A masterpiece of Flemish illumination by Gerard Horenbout, Alexander and Simon Bening, and others, the Grimani Breviary is housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (MS lat. I, 99=2138) in Venice. It dates 1520, when it was purchased by Cardinal Domenico Grimani (1461-1530).

Known as a “Reproduktionszeicher,” Germano mastered stone lithography and was involved in several publications, including those by Léon Curmer of the Grimani Breviary (Paris, 1864). In the 1850s he made facsimiles from the Grimani Breviary for such clients as Baroness Ottillie van Goethe of Weimar and the Erzherzogin Charlotte of Austria. He exhibited some of them at the Academia in Venice. Many others are known (see for example, Voelkle, 2023, nos. 51-54, now in a private collection in Edinburgh; Hindman et al, 2001, p. 168), although there is still no Census of the surviving examples.

Although unsigned, this miniature of Saint Michael the Archangel bears all the earmarks of the copies painted by Germano Prosdocimi. In an age prior to the development of mechanical methods for high-quality color reproduction, his Grimani copies were highly valued by manuscript connoisseurs. Ambroise Firmin-Didot, for example, owned several, as did various princes and princesses in continental Europe.

Provenance
(1) France, Private Collection.

(2) Private Collection, USA.

LITERATURE
Unpublished. On Prosdocimi, see Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 27, p. 423, Leipzig, 1954; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculptures, dessinateurs et graveurs, Paris, 1966, VII, p. 36; Andrea Lermer,“Eine verhinderte Publikation zum Dogenpalast in Venedig: Pietro Selvaticos und Germano Prosdocimis Arbeiten fur die Monumenti Artistici e Storici delle Province Venete,“ Studi Veneziani 41 (2001), pp. 281-293; On the Grimani Breviary; Scato de Vries and Salomone Morpurgo. Le Bréviaire Grimani, Leiden, 1903-1908, pp. 44-47 ; and on neo-Gothic manuscript illumination, Sandra Hindman et al., Manuscript Illumination in the Modern Age, Recovery and Reconstruction, Evanston, Illinois, 2001; William M. Voelkle, Holy Hoaxes: A Beautiful Deception. Celebrating William M. Voelkle’s Collecting, Paris, New York, and Chicago [2023], pp. 168, fig.

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

This lot is located in Cincinnati.

To request further details about this lot, please email [email protected]

Please contact the Auction Specialist for details.

Christopher Brink

Associate Vice President, Head of Sale, Senior Specialist, Books & Manuscripts

[email protected]312.334.4217

Darren Winston

SVP, Head of Department, Books and Manuscripts, Philadelphia

[email protected]267.414.1247

Darren Winston, Senior Vice President at Freeman’s, has served as Head of Department for Books & Manuscripts, Philadelphia, since 2018. He has been a trustee of the Rosenbach Museum and Library since 2022, is a member of The Manuscript Society, The Bibliographical Society of America, and Philadelphia’s Philobiblon Club.

Raised in northern New Jersey, Darren moved to New York City in 1988 and began his career there as a bookseller in 1995. He spent the next 18 years selling to private clients and at East Coast book fairs. In 2003 he moved with his young family to Sharon, Connecticut where, in 2009, he opened his own bookshop. Darren Winston, Bookseller offered rare and vintage books, prints, fine art, and more, and hosted over 50 book signings and art shows. He was a trustee and, later, Board President, of the Sharon Historical Society, and for six years a trustee of Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Darren has hosted the radio program "Darren Winston's Book Report" for NPR-affiliate WHDD since 2009, appeared in the 2014 book-themed documentary The Paper Trail, and in 2024 he joined Antiques Roadshow as a books and manuscripts appraiser. From 1999 to 2005, Darren was the buyer and consultant to the Fine and Rare Books Department at Asprey, the British luxury goods company, at its New York headquarters. While there he spearheaded various in-store events including readings by Salman Rushdie and Dominick Dunne.

In 1993, Darren was hired as a Creative Consultant to Columbia Records, where he assisted in the repackaging of their 12-record Aerosmith back catalogue. He later sold his extensive collection of Aerosmith memorabilia, which he began amassing at the age of 14, directly to the band.

Darren now lives on the Main Line, outside Philadelphia, with his wife, two children, and dog. The family travels frequently to his wife's native England and Scotland. When not bookselling, he plays guitar in Pumped, an Aerosmith tribute band. Darren also appears on the top-rated PBS television program Antiques Roadshow.

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Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

GERMANO PROSDOCIMI, attr. (Italy, b. 1819; d. 1886-1906)
Single leaf, Saint Michael the Archangel, tempera on vellum (223 x 164 mm.) [Italy, Venice, 1860s?]

Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

GERMANO PROSDOCIMI, attr. (Italy, b. 1819; d. 1886-1906)Single leaf, Saint Michael the Archangel, tempera on vellum (223 x 164 mm.) [Italy, Venice, 1860s?]

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GERMANO PROSDOCIMI, attr. (Italy, b. 1819; d. 1886-1906)
Single leaf, Saint Michael the Archangel, tempera on vellum (223 x 164 mm.) [Italy, Venice, 1860s?]