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Auction archive: Lot number 12

POPE CLEMENT VII ASPERGING THE CONGREGATION BEFORE MASS, miniature with borders forming a framed montage, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

Auction 11.07.2002
11 Jul 2002
Estimate
£10,000 - £15,000
ca. US$15,535 - US$23,302
Price realised:
£20,315
ca. US$31,559
Auction archive: Lot number 12

POPE CLEMENT VII ASPERGING THE CONGREGATION BEFORE MASS, miniature with borders forming a framed montage, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

Auction 11.07.2002
11 Jul 2002
Estimate
£10,000 - £15,000
ca. US$15,535 - US$23,302
Price realised:
£20,315
ca. US$31,559
Beschreibung:

POPE CLEMENT VII ASPERGING THE CONGREGATION BEFORE MASS, miniature with borders forming a framed montage, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Rome, c.1523] Central montage with four border strips around a miniature 310 x 245mm, within a carved gilt frame with four further border strips applied 500 x 380mm overall. The miniature, visible as though through a carved renaissance doorway with the Medici impresa in the lunette, shows the Pope, leading his bishops to celebrate Mass, and asperging the lay congregation on the other side of an arcaded opening. The surrounding border strips have round or oval medallions with half-length figures of saints, prophets and patriarchs, the arms, devices and monograms of Pope Clement VII between flamboyant all'antica designs in gold on grounds of blue, red, black and green, two inscribed panels in the lower border record the election as Pope Clement VII of Giulio de' Medici, cousin on the father's side of Leo X, in 1523. Framed and glazed 650 x 540mm. This is one of a group of composite leaves made up of miniatures and border fragments that have been characterised as telling 'a great deal about 16th-century patronage, 18th-century looting, and 19th-century collecting': W.M. Voelkle and R.S. Wieck, The Bernard H. Breslauer Collection of Manuscript Illuminations , New York 1992, pp.224-227. The source of the components was one of the Missals of the Sistine Chapel. The repeated inclusion of the de' Medici arms, inscriptions and mottoes indicate that the original manuscript was completed for Pope Clement VII, although the occasional mention of Leo X has led to suggestions that the Missal may have been started for him. After Napoleonic troops had looted the Sistine Chapel in 1798 servicebooks, or leaves from servicebooks, were acquired by Abate Luigi Celotti, a cleric turned art dealer. He brought the fragments into England, thereby avoiding the import tax on intact and heavy volumes, turned them into imposing renaissance easel-paintings, in line with early 19th-century English taste, and offered them for sale at auction. Of the 15 similar composites sold in these rooms 26 May 1825, lots 61-75, ten others are known, all but three in public collections (Voelkle and Wieck p.226). Described as 'Clement VII in Procession', this was lot 73. Only two others, both in the Victoria and Albert Museum (E.4577- & 4578-1910), retain their 'original' ornate carved frames with the additional borders. Vincent Raymond a Frenchman, is recorded as having illuminated manuscripts for the Sistine Chapel during the pontificates of Leo X, Clement VII and Paul II and these composites are generally attributed to him. It is obvious from the variety of styles, however, that more than one illuminator worked on this Missal.

Auction archive: Lot number 12
Auction:
Datum:
11 Jul 2002
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
Beschreibung:

POPE CLEMENT VII ASPERGING THE CONGREGATION BEFORE MASS, miniature with borders forming a framed montage, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Rome, c.1523] Central montage with four border strips around a miniature 310 x 245mm, within a carved gilt frame with four further border strips applied 500 x 380mm overall. The miniature, visible as though through a carved renaissance doorway with the Medici impresa in the lunette, shows the Pope, leading his bishops to celebrate Mass, and asperging the lay congregation on the other side of an arcaded opening. The surrounding border strips have round or oval medallions with half-length figures of saints, prophets and patriarchs, the arms, devices and monograms of Pope Clement VII between flamboyant all'antica designs in gold on grounds of blue, red, black and green, two inscribed panels in the lower border record the election as Pope Clement VII of Giulio de' Medici, cousin on the father's side of Leo X, in 1523. Framed and glazed 650 x 540mm. This is one of a group of composite leaves made up of miniatures and border fragments that have been characterised as telling 'a great deal about 16th-century patronage, 18th-century looting, and 19th-century collecting': W.M. Voelkle and R.S. Wieck, The Bernard H. Breslauer Collection of Manuscript Illuminations , New York 1992, pp.224-227. The source of the components was one of the Missals of the Sistine Chapel. The repeated inclusion of the de' Medici arms, inscriptions and mottoes indicate that the original manuscript was completed for Pope Clement VII, although the occasional mention of Leo X has led to suggestions that the Missal may have been started for him. After Napoleonic troops had looted the Sistine Chapel in 1798 servicebooks, or leaves from servicebooks, were acquired by Abate Luigi Celotti, a cleric turned art dealer. He brought the fragments into England, thereby avoiding the import tax on intact and heavy volumes, turned them into imposing renaissance easel-paintings, in line with early 19th-century English taste, and offered them for sale at auction. Of the 15 similar composites sold in these rooms 26 May 1825, lots 61-75, ten others are known, all but three in public collections (Voelkle and Wieck p.226). Described as 'Clement VII in Procession', this was lot 73. Only two others, both in the Victoria and Albert Museum (E.4577- & 4578-1910), retain their 'original' ornate carved frames with the additional borders. Vincent Raymond a Frenchman, is recorded as having illuminated manuscripts for the Sistine Chapel during the pontificates of Leo X, Clement VII and Paul II and these composites are generally attributed to him. It is obvious from the variety of styles, however, that more than one illuminator worked on this Missal.

Auction archive: Lot number 12
Auction:
Datum:
11 Jul 2002
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
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