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MADONNA AND CHILD, initial ‘S’ on a cutting from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Lombardy, probably Milan, c.1490
MADONNA AND CHILD, initial ‘S’ on a cutting from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Lombardy, probably Milan, c.1490] A stunning expression of Italian Renaissance illumination at its glorious peak: a sparkling miniature closely related to the work of Antonio da Monza and showing the strong influence of Leonardo da Vinci Carlo Crivelli and Vincenzo Foppa 256 x 256mm. Likely opening the introit for the Nativity of the Virgin in a giant Antiphonal (‘Salva sancta parens’). Verso with two lines of text and music and a faint outlined sketch of an initial (diagonal crease across the middle and vertical crease to top right, burnished gold lightly rubbed, slight smudge to the Virgin’s hand). Provenance : Purchased at the Alain Moatti Gallery, Paris, late 1970s – French private collection. The present miniature is the work of an extremely accomplished artist working in northern Italy at the end of the 15th century. Perhaps the closest parallels can be drawn with the work of Antonio da Monza (fl.1490-1528), particularly in the rendering of the faces, hands, feet and robes (see for example his Resurrection at the Getty [MS Ludwig VI 3, f.16] and his Pentecost in Vienna [Graphische Sammlung Albertina Inv. 1764]). But there are also other influences at play: doubtless the artist had seen Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks, produced in 1483 for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in Milan. The framing of the scene, with the Madonna and Child standing between a gourd and a pomegranate, is strongly reminiscent of the work of Carlo Crivelli (1430-1495 – see in particular the Madonna and Child at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acc. No 49.7.5), while the colouring and palette echoes Vincenzo Foppa (c.1430-1515).