St John the Baptist, historiated initial from a Choirbook, in Latin [Italy (Piacenza), c.1465-70]

cutting, 120x125mm, vellum, initial 'D', reverse with remains of two lines of text and music on a four-line red stave, rastrum c.40mm, some rubbing to the gold leaf, small pigment loss along the lines of the stave compensated in grey paint (mostly for the mantle), framed

THIS ILLUMINATION PROBABLY OPENED THE ANTIPHONARY VOLUME WITH THE SANCTORALE OF THE CHOIRBOOKS OF SAN SISTO, PAINTED BY THE SECOND MASTER OF THE ANTIPHONARY M OF SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE

This artist is identifiable as the Second Master of the Antiphonary M of San Giorgio Maggiore, a wordy sobriquet for one of the most imaginative painters of the Veneto. He is named after an Antiphonary illuminated for San Giorgio Maggiore in c.1467-70 by Belbello da Pavia, to which he contributed four initials (Venice, Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, Antiphonal M; see G. Mariani Canova in Arte Veneta, XXVII, 1973, pp.38-64). Mariani Canova recognised the origins of the artist’s style in Lombard illumination and identified some initials in one of the Choirbooks commissioned by Cardinal Bessarion around 1450 while he was Papal Legate in Bologna (Cesena, Bibl. Malatestiana, Gradual 1). The artist presumably then travelled to Piacenza to work on a series of Choirbooks for the Benedictine Abbey of San Sisto, probably begun in the 1460s. The set of Choirbooks includes fourteen volumes, the result of several campaigns, and was completed c.1500 (see Christie’s, 12 November 2008, lots 38-46; J. Filippone Overty in Rivista di Storia della Miniatura, 14, 2010, pp.151-62; I Corali benedettini di San Sisto a Piacenza, exh.cat., 2011).

The Second Master of Antiphonary M of San Giorgio Maggiore played an important role in the production of the San Sisto Choirbooks. The Antiphonaries comprise a set of five volumes: the first two volumes are painted mainly by Bartolomeo Gossi and Francesco da Castello (vol.I: Boston, Public Library, MS f. Med.120; vol.II: Berkeley, University of California, UCB 059). The other three volumes are painted by the Second Master of the Antiphonary M of San Giorgio Maggiore (vol.III: La Spezia, Museo Civico Amadeo Lia, MS inv.586; see A. De Floriani in Miniature, 1996, no.40; vol.IV: Christie’s, 12 November 2008, lot 45; vol.V: Sotheby’s, 1 December 1998, lot 99; until recently on deposit at the J. Paul Getty Museum, now in a private collection). The Graduals comprise a set of seven volumes, illuminated in large part by Francesco da Castello and others (vols.I-III, V-VII: Christie’s, ibid., lots 39-44; vol.IV: Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, MS 472). The series also includes two Choir Psalters painted mainly by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore in Pavia and the young Matteo da Milano (vol.I: Boston, Public Library, MS Pf Med 97; vol.II: Christie’s, ibid., lot 46).

The present illumination compares closely to the San Sisto Antiphonaries with regard to the rich colours, the palm-like trees, the hot pink of the initial, as well as the treatment of the face and figure. Most characteristic are the solemn impassive faces and the stylised depiction of plants. The third volume in La Spezia is complete, but the following two volumes both lack the first and presumably lavishly illuminated opening leaf. The fourth volume includes the Sanctorale from the feast of St John the Baptist to St Clement, and the fifth includes the Common of Saints, from the Apostles to the Office of the Dead. The present cutting was probably part of the opening leaf of volume four, which was sold at Christie’s in 2008.