Beschreibung:

ST HELENA AND THE TRUE CROSS, historiated initial ‘O’ on a leaf from a Choirbook illuminated by the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum [Milan, c.1440] An elegant and colourful initial on a leaf from a Milanese Choirbook, and an imposing example of the style of the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, one of the most important illuminators active in Milan in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, named after a manuscript of Suetonius’ Vitae Imperatorum produced for Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan (1392-1447) 556 x 396mm. 6 lines of text and music, initial ‘O’ (‘O Crux illa magna’) opening the unusual Feast for the Finding of the True Cross, verso foliated xciiii in red (minor marginal staining). Mounted. Provenance : From an unidentified Milanese choirbook, originally f.94; the present cutting and a sister leaf with the Three Martyrs were offered in Les Enluminures , cat. 3, 1995, no 9, while a sister leaf with the miniature of Mary Magdalene was sold at Sotheby’s, 14 December 1977, lot 17. The bold and economical palette of clear bright colours – including the leaves of the restrained border – and the fleshtones rendered with salmon pink shading and white highlighting on bare parchment are hallmarks of the Master’s style. The elegant fluidity of the draperies ultimately goes back to Michelino da Besozzo, the other great Lombard illuminator of the first half of the century. See A. Melograni, ‘Appunti di miniature lombarda. Ricerche sul Maestro delle Vitae Imperatorum’, Storia dell’Arte , 1990, pp.274-314.