LARGE HISTORIATED INITIAL "B" on a leaf from an ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT FRANCISCAN PSALTER [Venice, first half of the 15th century] 532x368mm, initial 153x160mm, pink and purple on burnished gold ground, decorated with lush green, blue and red foliage. Unfortunately, the inner inhabited part has been cut out and replaced by another miniature, possibly in the 16th century. The present miniature depicts a bald white-bearded David sitting in a walled green landscape playing a five-stringed lute. He looks up to God in Majesty within a mandorla in the blue sky above. The leaf has a full border of painted flowers and gold buds on scrolling green stems, containing four roundels, one large in the lower border, three smaller at the side. The larger has also, as the initial, been cut out and replaced. It depicts St. Francis standing holding a Cross. The others contain images of St. Bonaventure, St. Anthony of Padua and St. Bernardino of Siena. The initial introduces the first Psalm 'Beatus Vir' . Text 18 lines in black ink in a large gothic rotunda; verso also 18 lines. (A little rubbed). This must originally have been a most magnificent leaf, probably emanating from the workshop of Cristoforo Cortese one of the foremost Venetian artists active between 1409 and 1439.
LARGE HISTORIATED INITIAL "B" on a leaf from an ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT FRANCISCAN PSALTER [Venice, first half of the 15th century] 532x368mm, initial 153x160mm, pink and purple on burnished gold ground, decorated with lush green, blue and red foliage. Unfortunately, the inner inhabited part has been cut out and replaced by another miniature, possibly in the 16th century. The present miniature depicts a bald white-bearded David sitting in a walled green landscape playing a five-stringed lute. He looks up to God in Majesty within a mandorla in the blue sky above. The leaf has a full border of painted flowers and gold buds on scrolling green stems, containing four roundels, one large in the lower border, three smaller at the side. The larger has also, as the initial, been cut out and replaced. It depicts St. Francis standing holding a Cross. The others contain images of St. Bonaventure, St. Anthony of Padua and St. Bernardino of Siena. The initial introduces the first Psalm 'Beatus Vir' . Text 18 lines in black ink in a large gothic rotunda; verso also 18 lines. (A little rubbed). This must originally have been a most magnificent leaf, probably emanating from the workshop of Cristoforo Cortese one of the foremost Venetian artists active between 1409 and 1439.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
