Beschreibung:

ST PETER MARTYR, historiated initial 'O' cut from a choirbook, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Italy, c.1300]. 104 x 91mm. Recognisable by his Dominican habit, Peter Martyr is slain by an assassin whilst kneeling in prayer. Laid down on card, framed. Provenance : Collection of Dr Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Strasbourg.
ST PETER MARTYR, historiated initial 'O' cut from a choirbook, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Italy, c.1300]. 104 x 91mm. Recognisable by his Dominican habit, Peter Martyr is slain by an assassin whilst kneeling in prayer. Laid down on card, framed. Provenance : Collection of Dr Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Strasbourg. The simple palette of deep blue and vibrant orange-red with fine white pen-work, and the restraint demonstrated in the elegantly abstracted subject matter – with saint and assassin shown in isolation – and sober, unflourished initial 'O' indicate that this cutting was taken from a choirbook illuminated in Bologna at the dawn of the 14th century. The palette is close to an initial 'P' depicting the same subject in the Metropolitan Museum (Acc. No. 23.21.2), though the style of the present, somewhat later, initial differs in its depth of detail, both of colour and in the dress and appearance of the figures. The German antiquarian and scholar Robert Forrer judiciously gathered together a noted collection of cuttings and miniatures, many of which he offered for sale to museums; this initial is not published in his 1902 catalogue Unedierte Federzeichnungen, Miniaturen und Initialen .