Beschreibung:

Guglielmo Giraldi (fl.1450-1490) David playing his Psaltery, historiated initial 'B' cut from an illuminated manuscript Missal on vellum [Ferrara, c.1470] A handsome miniature perfectly exemplifying the elegance and individuality of the great Ferrarese illuminator Guglielmo Giraldi 144 x 143mm. The historiated initial 'B' likely opening Psalm 1 'Beatus vir'. Reverse with 7 visible lines of text, starting in Psalm 1:5 '[ideo non resurg]ent impii in iu[dicio]' (small losses and craquelure to burnished gold). Mounted and framed. Provenance: Private American Collection. This initial is the work of the great Ferrarese illuminator Guglielmo Giraldi (fl. 1450-1490), one of the most important personalities of Renaissance book decoration. His work for Lionello (1441-1450), Borso (1450-1471) and Ercole d'Este (1471-1505), along with his commissions for the Cathedral and for the Charterhouse of San Cristoforo brought him great renown. The decorative vocabulary and structure of the initial: the discordant shades of pink, the tall figure of David with his soft, placid face, the elaborate white tracery, all corresponds precisely to his work in the early 1470s before he left Ferrara for Mantua and the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro. Direct parallels can be drawn with an initial 'I' depicting St John the Evangelist from a Gradual for the Charterhouse of San Cristoforo (Ferrara, Museo di Schifanoia, Graduale L, OA 1341, f.51v): we see the same tracery, the same palette, the same soft, curly red hair and angular red drapery (see G. Mariani Canova, 'Guglielmo Giraldi e la grande miniatura per la Chiese e per i Principi', La Miniatura a Ferrara, 1998, p.196; and G. Mariani Canova, Guglielmo Giraldi Miniatore Estense, 1995, pp.97-110, pls 18-20).