Enluminures

Enluminures — marelibri

(FACSIMILE PUBLICATION - ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS, EARLY)Biblio.com

DAS STUNDENBUCH DER SFORZA. THE SFORZA HOURS

réf. ST12210Lucerne: Faksimile Verlag 1993. No. 195 OF 980 COPIES. 206 x 168 mm. 8 1/8 x 6 5/8". Four volumes each with separate volume of commentary in English and German. With commentary by Mark L. Evans. Publisher's red velvet flat spine two silver gilt clasps each volume housed in a matching velvet box with the commentary volume in paper wrapper gilt coat of arms on upper cover of each box. With 138 borders and 48 miniatures by Birago and two borders and 16 miniatures by Horenbout. ◆In mint condition. This is a very fine facsimile of a Renaissance Book of Hours with an intriguing history and decoration by two different and distinguished illuminators one Italian and the other Flemish. The Sforza Hours was originally commissioned from Italian miniaturist Giovan Pietro Birago fl. 1471-1513 by Bona Sforza wife of the Duke of Milan around 1490. A surviving letter from Birago to an unknown nobleman complains that part of the manuscript was stolen by an unscrupulous "Fra Jacopo" and demands restitution in the enormous amount of 500 ducats. No one knows if Birago was ever reimbursed for his loss but the duchess bequeathed the partial manuscript to her nephew's wife Margaret of Austria. In 1506 Margaret daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor moved to the Netherlands where she served as Regent for the future Charles V until his coronation in 1520. In 1517 she set about completing the Sforza Hours hiring scribe Etienne de Lale to provide the missing text pages and illuminator Gerard Horenbout ca. 1465-1541 to paint miniatures and two borders. Horenbout had produced the miniatures in the Breviary of Eleanor of Portugal and those in the Hours of James IV of Scotland. He also briefly worked as painter in the court of Henry VIII. Horenbout included a small portrait of Charles V in one of the borders here leading art historians to believe that Margaret gave the book to the emperor to commemorate his coronation. The manuscript resurfaced in Madrid in 1871; it was purchased by an Englishman and was donated to the British Library by a later owner. As noted in the library's online exhibit of the work "The manuscript is outstanding for its rich decorative scheme and an unusually high number of its text pages have minutely detailed borders initials and vignettes in deep blues greens and rich reds to complement the many full-page miniatures.". Faksimile Verlag unknown

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts · États-Unis6 032,00 $US≈ 5 378,51 €

(FACSIMILE PUBLICATION - ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS, EARLY)Biblio.com

IL LIBRO D'ORE DI BONAPARTE GHISLIERI. THE HOURS OF BONAPARTE GHISLIERI

réf. ST12207Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini 2008. No. 201 OF 980 COPIES. 216 x 152 mm. 8 1/2 x 6". 136 leaves in the facsimile. Three volumes including two volumes of commentary one in German and one in Italian. SUMPTUOUS RED MOROCCO central panel of each cover with thin open-work black leather in an ornate vine pattern laid over blue and gold silk creating a stained glass effect the leatherwork incorporating floral circles painted in red and gold three large medallions arranged down the center of the panel those at head and tail of red morocco painted in a black gold and blue pattern and with a large round semi-precious stone at the middle the central medallion comprising a miniature on silk that on the upper cover of the Archangel Gabriel that on the lower cover of the Virgin Mary; raised bands spine diapered in blind with a single gilt dot at the center of each lozenge; floral silver cornerpieces and two clasps red morocco doublures framed in silver doublure panels with intricate decoration in gilt and black large central medallion of open-work black leather over blue silk with a molded leather profile of Julius Caesar at center ivory watered silk endleaves all edges gilt and gauffered. In a padded silk-lined cream-colored suede box with an enamel medallion on the upper cover. BEAUTIFULLY DECORATED THROUGHOUT: with many ornamental initials elaborate floral extensions and partial borders a tondo miniature at the foot of each calendar page seven historiated initials with full borders and five full-page miniatures each by a different Italian master. ◆In mint condition. This sophisticated Book of Hours was produced in 1503 at the behest of Bonaparte Ghislieri a member of an important Bolognese family. In commissioning it Ghislieri wanted to bring together several of the most famous artists of the period each of whom was called upon to create a full-page miniature. The intention was to offer a sort of miniature anthology of the best that the Bologna school of illumination could produce at the time. Consequently we see a succession of works by: Amico Aspertini Adoration of the Shepherds Lorenzo Costa King David and his Lyre Il Francia Francesco Raibolini Saint Jerome Matteo da Milano Annunciation and Perugino St. Sebastian. This last is the only miniature ever painted by Raphael's teacher. Bologna was also the home of the scribe Pierantonio Sallando who taught grammar at the University of Bologna and was to become a famous professor of writing. The codex passed from the Ghislieris to the Albani family of Urbino where it is documented in the 18th century; the following century it reached England where it was purchased by Henry Yates Thompson in 1897. Since 1941 it has been kept in the British Library. Franco Cosimo Panini unknown

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts · États-Unis9 360,00 $US≈ 8 345,97 €