Beschreibung:

THE SCOURGING OF ST BARBARA BEFORE THE PREFECT MARTINIANUS, large miniature by THE SPANISH FORGER on a cutting from a 15th-century choirbook, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Paris, c.1900]. 230 x 193mm. The miniature depicting the flagellation of St Barbara; verso with 3 lines of music and text in brown ink with one penwork initial in red and blue (light abrasion to surface with small losses of pigment and cracking of gold, likely intended). Window-mounted.
THE SCOURGING OF ST BARBARA BEFORE THE PREFECT MARTINIANUS, large miniature by THE SPANISH FORGER on a cutting from a 15th-century choirbook, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Paris, c.1900]. 230 x 193mm. The miniature depicting the flagellation of St Barbara; verso with 3 lines of music and text in brown ink with one penwork initial in red and blue (light abrasion to surface with small losses of pigment and cracking of gold, likely intended). Window-mounted. Celebrated as 'one of the most successful, skilful and prolific forgers of all time' (see Manuscript Illumination in the Modern Age , 2001, p.157), the so-called Spanish Forger painted striking original 'medieval' miniatures in Paris between the 1890s and 1920s, often using fragments of 14th- to 16th-century choirbooks (see W. Voelkle, The Spanish Forger , New York, 1978). The present miniature, with its expressive, theatrically-positioned figures and muted palette is a very fine example of the artist's distinctive style. It is listed in Voelkle's ongoing census as L221.