Beschreibung:

ERNESTO SPREGA (1829-1911), Ten Biblical scenes , illuminated miniatures on either side of five vellum leaves [?Vienna or Monaco, c.1890s] Fine and intriguing examples of the resurgence of interest in manuscript illumination in the 19 th century. 140 x 98-110mm (visible area). 5 vellum leaves painted on each side with a miniature of varied shape and decoratively framed with arabesques, acanthus, braids, bands or fictive frames, all surrounded by luxuriant borders of flowers and foliage, golden disks and swirling tendrils (slight darkening on burnished gold and a crease through the right corner of the Tribute Money miniature with pigment losses). All in double-sided black and gold carved frames. These are part of a larger group of leaves and cuttings - all attributed to Ernesto Sprega - illuminated in the style of manuscripts made for members of the d’Este court in Ferrara in the middle of the 15th century by Taddeo Crivelli and colleagues. Specifically the present miniatures draw upon the decoration and illustration of one of the greatest achievement of Renaissance manuscript illumination, the Bible of Borso d’Este (1455-1461: Modena, Bib. Estense, MS 422-3). This two-volume Bible remained in the royal library in Modena until 1859 when it was among the treasures that Duke Francesco V took with him into exile in Vienna. It remained there until 1914. Ernesto Sprega had a varied and successful career as a painter, illuminator and ceramicist. His best-known illuminations are the highly skilled and accurate copies of historiated initials painted by Liberale da Verona in choirbooks in the Piccolomini Library in Siena. Sprega’s copies were commissioned by the Arundel Society and were reproduced by them in 1862 in a volume of engravings after illuminations. Sprega was also engaged in restoration of Raphael frescoes in the Vatican. From the 1870s he lived and worked in Monaco, from 1877 as director of the ceramics factory there. He also worked extensively on fresco and ceramic murals in the Prince’s Palace. It was through his role as director of the Pôterie that he could have gained access to Borso’s Bible in Vienna: he represented the manufactory at Universal Exhibitions in the city. Two sister leaves were offered at Sotheby’s in 2000 and a further one is in the collection of William Voelkle of New York ( Holy Hoaxes , exh. cat, New York , Les Enluminures , 2019, no 34, available online). These may originally have formed part of an album. Penn University recently acquired another double-sided cutting, but of a different format, that also reproduces a scene from Borso’s Bible. The miniatures and, where relevant, their position in vol.II of Borso’s Bible, are as follows: 1.God showing Jeremiah two baskets of figs in front of the Temple (Jeremiah 24, p.72)/ Isaiah prophesying the judgement and punishment of Jerusalem (Isaiah 2, p.9) 2. Christ sending the Apostles out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and heal the sick (Luke 9, p.325)/ Christ rejecting the Tribute Money (Matthew 22, p.287) 3.Christ with the Little Children/ Entry into Jerusalem 4.Betrayal with Peter cutting Malchus ear/ Flagellation (John 19, 363) 5.Descent from Cross (John 21, p.366)/ Christ with doubting Thomas