Beschreibung:

PENTECOST, in an initial D on a leaf from an ILLUMINATED CHOIRBOOK ON VELLUM
PENTECOST, in an initial D on a leaf from an ILLUMINATED CHOIRBOOK ON VELLUM [?southern Italy, mid-13th century] 480 x 350mm (visible area of leaf), 185 x 205mm (body of initial). The initial with staves of orange and crimson set against a ground divided into fields of blue or pink with scrolling white decoration overall, in the bowl of the D twelve seated Apostles, St Peter in the centre holding a book, tower-like footstools in the foreground and red tongues descending toward them from a blue canopy above; on the verso eight lines of music of square notation on a four-line stave of red above eight lines written in black ink, rubrics in red, text justification: 390 x 280mm (some wear to surface of initial, original text and music erased and replaced, ink erosion to bottom line of text and losses of vellum at leaf edges, especially at bottom right, vellum repairs on verso, between two sheets of glass). Framed. This initial opens the antiphon 'Dum complerentur dies pentecostes', the first antiphon for lauds on Pentecost Sunday, although the extensive areas of modification may indicate that it was not originally intended for that office. Some change of liturgical practice must have necessitated the remodelling of text and music. This is a striking and intriguing initial where figures strongly reminiscent of a classical relief are set against a wildly abstract-patterned background. The restricted palette and dramatic classicisation of the drapery and heads suggest a date no later than the middle of the thirteenth century -- notably early for a choirbook with square notation. Notwithstanding the difference in colour scheme, the closest stylistic analogies can be made with the illumination of what must once have been one of the most individual and captivating of medieval manuscripts, the Conradin Bible (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, Ms 152 and dispersed initials). The artists of both work with the same aim of recreating antique figures -- albeit bulkier and more static in the Pentecost -- and both provide blocked-out backgrounds of juxtaposed colours. Even the white pen-work decoration over the surface of the backgrounds employs the same vocabulary: scrolling lines with nodal dots that terminate in cross-hatched disks and are interspersed with spoked circles and circles surrounded by dots. A. Daneu Lattanzi, Lineamenti di storia della miniatura in Sicilia , 1966, figs 51-54 and pp.58-61. It seems likely that this Pentecost initial was painted by an artist formed in a similar milieu to the Master of the Conradin Bible. But the location is an unresolved question and his origins have been sought in southern Italy, Pisa, the Veneto and Rome: G. Valagussa, 'Maestro della Bibbia di Corradino', in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani , ed. M. Bollati, 2004, pp.518-520. Whatever difficulty may be involved in categorising this Pentecost cannot detract from its remarkable quality; a quality recognised by the religious house who owned it and, centuries after it was made, preserved it and maintained its relevance by remodelling text and music. Purchased at the Alfred Brod Gallery, London 28 December 1965.