An elegant and perfectly preserved testimony to the complex developments in Sienese manuscript illumination around 1400

41 The Adoration of the Magi

41 Historiated initial ‘D’ on a vellum leaf from a missal. Italy, Siena, c. 1400-10.

366 x 256 mm, initial c. 45 x 55 mm. – Written space: 230 x 168 mm, double columns with 26 lines to the page, ruled in pencil. Italian Textualis Libraria (Rotunda) in black and red ink. Original foliation in the lower margin in red: fol. XVIII. – Two-line initials alternately in red and blue with penwork decoration in the opposite colour. – Illumination in colours and burnished punched gold tooled in various patterns. Elaborate two-sided border extending over the height and width of the written space and comprising acanthus, flowers, birds and faces. – Apart from insignificant rubbing to the bird’s head in the lower left border in pristine condition, not trimmed.

PROVENANCE: Private collection.

TEXT: “Deus qui hodernia die…”, prayer following the introit to the Mass of Epiphany. Leaf from a dismembered missal.The page with the illumination is marked with the old foliation, which is strange since the order of texts and the layout unmistakably demonstrate that this is the original verso.

COMPANION LEAF: Initial ‘F’ depicting the Assumption of the Virgin (fol. CCXVIII), Private collection, London.

ILLUMINATION: The rediscovery of this marvellous missal leaf provides us with enlightening new insights into Sienese manuscript painting around 1400. Its rich system of foliate decoration interspersed with drolleries is characterized by a sense of elegance and brilliant palette which leaps instantaneously to the eye. The models on which this style is based are unmistakably rooted in the art of the Master of the Codice Rossiano (Fra Gregorio Mutii da Montalcino) and of Andrea di Bartolo. In the last decade of the 14th century these artists developed the legacy of the preceding generation of miniaturists such as the Master of San Eugenio, Niccolò di Sozzo and Lippo Vanni and advanced their artistic idiom by adding a more pronounced sense of decoration, particularly evident in the tooled gold grounds and vibrant colour cadenza. The drolleries incorporated in the borders are an especially attractive facet of this playful sense of preciousness and resemble goldsmith’s work. The elaborate swirling foliage in full colours include grotesque heads, fanciful swans and elegantly floating butterflies. Tips of leaves evolve into bird’s heads, resembling cranes with their fine plumage sticking out at the throat. Such lavish and elaborate decoration was first introduced to Sienese manuscript painting by Andrea di Bartolo. His illuminations in a series of choirbooks donated by the English King Henry IV shortly before 1400 to the Franciscans of Jerusalem (Jerusalem, Museum of the Library of the Studio Biblico Francescano, mss. 5D, 6K, 7H, and private collection, cf. Freuler 2002, pp. 188ff.; 340) are an especially characteristic example of this decorative exuberance. Rich border decoration complemented by drolleries was to become the trademark of the later choirbooks made to the order of the Augustinian Eremites of San Salvatore in Lecceto and illuminated by the Master of the Hymnary, a manuscript painter whose career in all likelihood started in the workshop of Andrea di Bartolo (Freuler 2002, pp. 197ff.). The Sienese artist responsible for the illumination of our leaf must have been familiar with the stylistic idiom of Andrea di Bartolo and the Master of the Codice Rossiano. He carries forward their patterns of ornamental decoration with striking gold tooling. Our anonymous artist must therefore be closely associated with the artistic sphere of Andrea di Bartolo. Not only the border decoration but also the compositions of the historiated initials on the two missal leaves, the one at hand as well as its companion piece with the Assumption of the Virgin, relate to this artistic milieu. The serenity of the Madonna presenting her son so that the old king can kiss his foot, the prototype of the boy with blonde curls, snub nose and big round eyes that alertly follow the scene, as well as the standing king, shown from behind, whose glance follows his young companion who almost vanishes behind the foliage of the framing initial, are pictorial elements that go back directly to the repertoire of Bartolo di Fredi, which his son Andrea di Bartolo developed. Most probably our miniaturist had in mind a now lost image by Bartolo di Fredi. Like our illumination, another, slightly later, Sienese representation of the Adoration by Gregorio di Cecco in a Swiss private collection alludes to an earlier model (cf. Freuler 1991, pp. 89ff.). The figures in our miniature – although fewer in number on account of the small format – correspond down to the details with those of the panel painting in their posture and figural type. Despite their common model, however, our miniature predates the panel painting by Gregorio di Cecco, which was created in c. 1420, and evidently already includes the germ of the later tradition of Sienese painting as developed e.g. by Sassetta. Our leaf constitutes a direct link to the illumination of Andreas di Bartolo around 1400.With his brilliant palette and the inventiveness and abundance of his decorative vocabulary, founded on the idiom jointly created by Andrea di Bartolo and the Master of the Codice Rossiano, the hand of our painter reveals tendencies which were adopted after 1415 by the artists in the circle of the Master of the Hymnary when they continued the illumination of the choirbook series for the Augustinian Eremites of Lecceto which had been started by Andrea di Bartolo. Our missal leaf must therefore have been created around 1400-10.

LITERATURE: The miniature is hitherto unpublished. Freuler 1991, pp. 89ff.; Freuler 2002, pp. 177-253, 332-353.