Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Works directly associated with female nuns are rare, and this one reflects the refined Venetian-Ferrarese style shaped by Leonardo Bellini’s influential workshop.
 
96 × 44 mm, i (vellum) + 144 leaves + i (vellum), foliated in modern pencil 1–144, lacking a leaf after f. 135 and one or perhaps two leaves after f. 143, else complete [collation: i10, ii6, iii–xiii10, xiv10-1, xv8, xvi1 (perhaps of 2 or 4, lacking all after i)], ruled in brown ink in a single column of thirteen lines (justification: 52 × 37 mm), written in dark brown ink in a small semi-cursive humanistic minuscule, rubrics in red, versal initials alternately dark blue and burnished gold, OVER ONE HUNDRED SMALL ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH ILLUMINATED BORDERS, two to three lines high in handsome leafy and floral designs in full colors and delicate heightening on burnished gold panels and with partial or full-length borders of colored flowers and fruit and gold bezants within elaborate brown penwork in the Ferrarese style, sometimes within burnished gold framed borders, a few (e.g. f. 94v) on grounds entirely of burnished gold, EIGHT LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH THREE-QUARTER BORDERS, the initials four to five lines high, and TWO HISTORIATED INITIALS WITH GOLD BORDERS either partially on burnished gold ground or with penwork entirely in burnished gold; final leaf worn, some other leaves a bit rubbed, a few extremities of illuminated borders slightly cropped, some negligible offsetting and signs of use, generally in good condition with bright sparkling burnished gold. Modern (after 1987), dark brown Morocco binding profusely gilt in very skillful imitation of a Venetian gilt binding with clasp and catch.
 
Provenance
(1) Commissioned by a woman living in Northeast Italy, probably the Veneto region. The Obsecro te beginning on 140v is in the feminine form with the initial “L” inscribed on f. 143 (“mihi famula tua ‘L’ impetres…”). The Calendar reflects the Veneto region: Saint Vitalis (Verona), Germinianus (Modena), Fosca (Venice), Justina (Padua), Cerbonius (Verona), Prosdocimus (Padua). ‘L’ was perhaps a member of the Franciscan order, with Saint Francis, Saint Louis of Toulouse, and Saint Clare elevated to red in the calendar and appearing in the litanies.
 
(2) Private Collection, North Carolina. Sold by private treaty through Sotheby’s, December 17, 1991, lot 95.
 
(3) Collection of Dr. Scott Schwarz, New York. His bookplate and inventory number “44” on front pastedown.
 
Text
ff. 1–16, Calendar; ff. 17–107v, Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (f. 17), Lauds (f. 31), Prime (f. 46v), Terce (f. 53), Sext (f. 59), None (f. 64v), Vespers (f. 70v), and Compline (f. 80v), with the seasonal variants; ff. 108–111v, Mass for the Virgin; ff. 112–125v, Penitential Psalms; ff. 126v–135v, Litanies; ff. 136–140r, Athanasian Creed (beginning imperfectly); ff. 140v–144, Obsecro te and O intemerata (breaking off unfinished).
 
Illumination
Commissioned for a female patron in northeastern Italy, likely the Veneto ca. 1480–1490, this manuscript reflects regional devotional practices, incorporating both local saints and Franciscan observances. Its illumination embodies the eclectic artistic vocabulary of the Veneto, while drawing most directly from Leonardo Bellini, one of the principal figures in the development of Venetian Renaissance manuscript painting. Mariani Canova called Bellini “the most important Venetian illuminator of the period 1455-75” (1969, p. 22). He was apprenticed to his uncle, the famous painter Jacopo Bellini, for two years from 1443, and his works include a Bible of 1461 (Padua, Biblioteca Seminario, MS XXI), the documented Promissio of Niccolo Marcello of 1473 (Venice, Biblioteca Correr, MS. III,322), and the Mariegola of the Scuola dei Mascoli, of 1476 (Venice, Museo Diocesano S. Apollonia, no. 32).
 
More than one hundred small, illuminated initials, eight large initials with elaborate borders of burnished gold panels, colored flowers, fruit, and gold bezants—elements recalling Ferrarese influence—and two historiated initials heightened with extensive burnished gold echo Bellini’s distinctive synthesis of Venetian opulence and regional stylistic currents. Also Ferrarese is the brown ink lacework in the borders. In particular, the miniature of the Virgin and Child (f. 13) and the full-face David (f. 126) closely parallel compositions attributed to Bellini and reproduced by Canova (1969, pls. 10–11, 18).
 
The subjects of the two historiated initials are: 17r, Virgin and Child (for the Hours of the Virgin); f. 126v, King David (for the Penitential Psalms).
 
LITERATURE
Unpublished. Related Literature: Giordana Mariani Canova, La miniatura veneta del Rinascimento, 1450–1500, 1969, pls. 10–11, 18; Adriana Labriola, “Leonardo Bellini: Un miniatore veneziano del Quattrocento,” Arte Veneta 24 (1970): 85–100; Giordana Mariani Canova, “Miniatura e miniatori a Venezia nel Quattrocento,” in La pittura nel Veneto: Il Quattrocento, ed. Mauro Lucco, Milan, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 607–26; Susy Marcon, in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: secoli IX–XVI, ed. by M. Bollati, Milan, 2004, pp. 76–78

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale and Federica Toniolo consultation on this entry.

Collection of Dr. Scott Schwartz