Beschreibung:

UNITED STATES, Constitution.] -- LEONI, Nestore, illuminator. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States . 1891-1901.
UNITED STATES, Constitution.] -- LEONI, Nestore, illuminator. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States . 1891-1901. 13 panels on Japan vellum with the texts of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution executed in gothic lettering in black, red and gold, enclosed in elaborate borders of intricate design incorporating miniature portraits and scenes within floriate grounds, each signed by Nestore Leoni. Each design measures 19 x 25 inches; overall sheets measure 31 x 23 inches, each on a heavy cardboard stretcher with cloth edging. Provenance : George D. Sproul, sold Parke Bernet, 11 December 1952, lot 194, Emil Offenbacher agent. A FINE ILLUMINATED SERIES OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND U.S CONSTITUTION. Leoni was born at Aquila in 1862 and took ten years to prepare these panels. He had earlier prepared a similar series of the Italian Constitution and was encouraged to prepare this by an American. Purchased by George D. Sproul, they were exhibited to President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House and Secretary John Hay in 1901. After that they were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In January 1914, they were placed on view at the Library of Congress and were kept there for several years. The elaborate borders include portraits of Christopher Columbus, John Smith William Penn, Lord Baltimore, Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin and others. Scenes of Pilgrims, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Quebec, the planting of the Liberty Tree and Washington taking command of the American Army are among the vignettes. Helen Wright, in the September 1916 issue of the International Studio reviewed the exhibition of the panels at the Library of Congress, saying that it "looked as if [the Declaration] were the gentle canto of an Italian poet, illuminated by some grey-cowled monk of the middle ages," rather than a document to "set forth the grievances of the American colonies against Great Britain... It is impossible to describe the wonderful skill and unusual dexterity of the production." (13)