Refined Gothic style typical of late thirteenth-century Anglo Norman manuscript production.
 
65 × 55 mm. Single cutting, the reverse written in a Gothic textualis with the end of eleven lines of text, followed by a blank space and one additional line, ONE HISTORIATED INITIAL ‘L’ featuring a Pontifical scene, painted in a rich blue patterned with thick white pen-stroke filigree on a ground of faint rose; the interior of the letter forms a stage-like setting for the enthroned pope and surrounding figures. Some losses to the original pigment, revealing the underdrawing, clarity of the scene and the finely articulated gestures of the figures remain legible and effective.
 
This is a finely executed historiated initial introducing the prologue to Innocent IV’s Decretals, depicting the Pope enthroned and distributing a codex to kneeling clerics before an assembly of cardinals and bishops, rendered in a refined linear Gothic style typical of late thirteenth-century Anglo-Norman manuscript production. The historiated initial ‘L’ (for Legitur?) depicts a seated pope—likely Innocent IV—distributing a codex, almost certainly a copy of the Decretals, to a group of kneeling clerics, while a surrounding assembly of ecclesiastics, including cardinals in red galeri, bishops in miters, and figures in monastic habits, observe the act of transmission. The scene is set within a large initial painted in rich blue with foliate white penwork, bordered on the left by a slender architectural column and set against a pale rose ground. The pope, distinguished by his red mantle and papal tiara, is the only seated figure, bestowing the book with his left hand while raising his right in benediction. A kneeling cleric in a blue robe receives the text, reinforcing the moment’s ritual and juridical significance.
 
The composition emphasizes hierarchical order and the authoritative dissemination of ecclesiastical law, likely illustrating either the promulgation of the Decretals or the opening of Innocent IV’s prologue to his gloss (prooemium), traditionally beginning with Legitur in Ezechiele. This interpretation is supported by the text visible on the verso, which contains the conclusion of Chapter II and the beginning of Chapter III of Innocent IV’s commentary on the Decretals. Stylistically, the miniature reflects the linear Gothic idiom of the late thirteenth to early fourteenth century, with slender figures, angular drapery, and pronounced contour lines. The figures' facial expressions and postures are articulated with clarity and subtle individuality, despite pigment losses that expose underdrawing in grey ink. The palette—vermilion, blue, white, and traces of shell gold—was typical of Parisian and Anglo-Norman legal and scholastic manuscripts of the period. The refinement of gesture and costume, especially in the rendering of ecclesiastical headdress and liturgical vestments, suggests an illuminator trained in the production of institutional or academic manuscripts, possibly affiliated with a university or cathedral scriptorium.
 
Provenance
(1) Sold at Prunier, Louviers (Normandy), 25 May 2013, lot 15.
 
(2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 2409.
 
LITERATURE
Prunier, Haute Époque, Louviers, 25 May 2013, lot 15; Peter Kidd, The McCarthy Collection: French Miniatures, London, 2021, no. 87.
 
We are grateful to Peter Kidd for permission to quote from his catalogue in this entry, and we thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in the preparation of this sale.
 
The Collection of Robert McCarthy