Attributed to the Associate of the Missal Master Arcimboldi - Lot 1

Attributed to the Associate of the Missal Master Arcimboldi Annunciation Historiated initial D, taken from a choir book. Tempera and liquid gold, on parchment. Italy, Lombardy (Brescia or Mantua (?)), circa 1492-1495. Miniature mounted on a cardboard support. 20.8 x 19 cm Set against a classical, humanist architectural backdrop of bluish landscape, with a majestic peacock perched on a low wall, this Annunciation shows the angel Gabriel rushing towards the Virgin kneeling before a prie-Dieu. The light, careful compositional perspective and pastel palette lend a softness and elegance to this illuminated historiated initial. Dating from the late Quattrocento, this monumental illumination is most certainly taken from a choir book (gradual or antiphonary). This beautiful miniature is similar to a group of historiated initials attributed to an anonymous master, a close associate of the painter of the Arcimboldi Missal (Milan, Bibl. Capitolare, MS. II.D.I.13). This artist, baptized "Associate of the Master of the Arcimboldi Missal", was studied by Suida (1947) and seems to have worked in Brescia or the surrounding area. He is influenced, even in his architecture and treatment of checkerboard paving, by Milanese artists of the previous generation, such as Cristoforo de Predis. We know of a small group of historiated initials, taken from the same choir book, which show similarities to our Annunciation in the treatment of the figures and the palette. There is a first group of nineteen known initials, for a time in the Rodophe Kann collection, which feature related figures and strokes (Paris, 1907; see the survey and locations in P. Kidd, Illuminated Leaves and Cuttings From the Collection of Rodolphe Kann, see link below). Although the present Annunciation is not one of the miniatures in the Kann collection, there are obvious stylistic comparisons, starting with the lettering, with pastel motifs and palette (notably the violet/mauve of the lettering with pearl motifs and green and pink acanthus foliage). Remains of a blue baguette can be seen on the left side of the Annunciation: a historiated initial featuring Saint John the Baptist (former Burke Collection, San Francisco, now Stanford University, M2223) has this same blue baguette extended. Some related initials are in the Musée Marmottan, Wildenstein Collection, M 6103-6105. An overview of known initials is provided by C. Quattrini in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani secoli IX-XVI, ed. M. Bollati, Milan, 2004, pp. 619-620. See Suida, W., "Italian Miniatures Paintings from the Rodolphe Kann Collection?", in Art in America 35 (1947), pp. 26-27. Bergamo and Brescia, Tesori miniati, codici ed incunaboli dai fondi antichi di Bergamo e Brescia, exp. cat. 1995. P. Kidd https://mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2021/04/illuminated-leaves-and-cuttings-from.html Hindman, S. and F. Toniolo, The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Paintings, 2021, pp. 348-353, no. 35, Lombard Illuminator. Initial D with Saint John the Baptist, from a Gradual, Lombardy, c. 1500. M. Bollati refers to Suida's attribution of this group of illuminations to the Master of the Archimboldi Missal, but suggests that several Lombard artists are involved, citing the work of Laura Gnaccolini, for whom the 19 illuminations in the Kann collection are attributable to the same arrtist, the same artist who painted a St. John the Baptist in Statutes of the Apothecaries' Guild (Brescia, Biblioteca civica Queriniana, MS H IV 9) and a fragment from Martyrdom of St. Julia (Krakow, Biblioteka Jagellonska, L.R. 1904) (see The Burke Collection, 2021, p. 351; L. Gnaccolini, "Qualche nota sui "Tesori miniati"", in Arte cristiana 84 (1996), pp. 303-308). This drawing is presented jointly with Madame Ariane Adeline, 40, rue Gay-Lussac 75005 Paris. Attached is a color-enhanced woodcut (period coloring), a leaf from a printed Book of Hours, Matins from the Hours of the Holy Spirit. Verso, end of the text of the Hours of the Cross France, Paris, circa 1500 (or earlier?) Dimensions: 134 x 100 mm Engraving taken from a printed book of hours from the late 15th or early 16th century. This unenhanced engraving can be found in Heures à l'usage de Rennes, Paris, Pierre Regnault/Etienne Jehannot, 1497 (see copy in Rennes, Bibliothèque Rennes métropole, 85163 Rés.). There are other illustrated editions of this series of engravings, and it should be possible to identify with greater precision the edition from which this folio was taken by comparing it with known editions by Etienne Jehannot (printer active in Paris) for Pierre Regnault (bookseller active in Caen).