An important addition to the artist’s activity as an illuminator

42 Two Martyr Saints in an Initial ‘P’

Vellum leaf from a gradual for Lucca Cathedral, illuminated by Martino di Bartolomeo. Italy, Lucca, c. 1394-95.

570 x 420 mm, cut on all 4 sides. 5 staves ruled in red with notation and text in dark brown ink on recto and verso, stave height 47-48 mm.Verso: large initial ‘P’, 280 x 185 mm, with extensions decorating the margins, animated with herons and masks. Rich use of burnished gold. On the verso, in the centre left border, fragments of original numeration, in red ink: “... X”. In the upper left corner inscribed in a later hand, in black ink:“…3”. – Overall very fine condition, only minor rubbing and flaking of gold ground.

PROVENANCE: 1. Commissioned for the cathedral of Lucca. 2. Robert Lehman Collection, New York (ms. 184). According to De Ricci bought in Germany, before 1937 (De Ricci/Wilson 1935-40/Reprint 1961, vol. 2, p. 1707, C 11).

TEXT: “Protexisti me/deus a co[n]ve[n]/tu malignantium/ alleluya a multitu/dine operantium iniq[ui]…” The initial ‘P’ on the verso of the leaf illustrates the introit to the mass of one martyr saint in Paschaltide, thus originating from the Commune Sanctorum part of a gradual. The dimensions of the leaf and the staves, the numeration as well as stylistic features, such as palette and border decoration, suggest that the present folio was part of a five-volume gradual for Lucca Cathedral (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, cor. nos. 1, 7, 9, 10; Biblioteca Capitolare, cor. no. 8). Commissioned in 1394 by Nicolo Guinigi, bishop of Lucca, (Labriola 1998, pp. 208-211), this choirbook series lacks several miniatures that were probably excised when the volumes were rebound in the 17th century.As its text indicates, the leaf at hand must have belonged to Corale 1, which contains the Commune Sanctorum. Pia Palladino furthermore discovered a companion piece in the Art Institute of Chicago (1923.1682, cf. Palladino 2003, cat. no. 31, p. 56).This cutting, which shows St Benedict distributing his rule in an Initial ‘O’, may have been included in one of the missing sanctoral portions of the gradual covering the Feast of St Benedict (March 25).

ILLUMINATION: The illuminator of the Lucca choirbooks, and along with them the miniature at hand, was first recognized by Luciano Bellosi as Martino da Bartolomeo (Bellosi 1975), one of the principal painters of Siena between the last decade of the Trecento and the first third of the Quattrocento. Although Martino is first mentioned in the 1389 registers of the Sienese painters’ guild, the earliest known records of his activity refer to commissions outside Siena, in Pisa and its surrounding regions, where he appears to have been engaged for some time before returning permanently to his native city in 1405. The Lucca choirbooks constitute the principal evidence for reconstructing Martino’s activity as a miniaturist. They are generally attributed to the very beginning of his career, closely related to but preceding the fresco cycle in the church of San Giovanni Battista di Cascina, outside Pisa, which bears Martino’s signature together with the date 1398. These works reveal a close affinity with the production of the Sienese painter Taddeo di Bartolo, in whose workshop Martino may have received his training. At the same time the influence of the schools of Pisa and Lucca, especially of Antonio Veneziano and Spinello Aretino is a strong component during this early phase. Except for the Lucca graduals, Martino’s activity in the field of manuscript illumination remains difficult to trace. As suggested by Palladino, an antiphonary cutting in the National Gallery of Art,Washington (B-14, 961), identified by Carl Nordenfalk as “Tuscan, around 1400” (exh. cat. Washington 1975, pp. 47-49), may have been illuminated by Martino in the same years as the Lucca graduals (Palladino 2003, cat. no. 31). Guilietta Chelazzi Dini was the first to associate the miniatures of a Legend of St Agnes in the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, Siena (cod. K.VII.I) with Martino’s name (Dini 1982, pp. 338-339).While this manuscript was ignored in the subsequent literature for some time, Gaudenz Freuler and Pia Palladino have recently brought it back into the discussion of Martino’s œuvre. Due to the strong influence to Taddeo di Bartolo Palladino ascribes the miniatures to the earliest phase in Martino’s career, preceding his activity in Pisa and Lucca (Palladino 2003, cat. no. 31), whereas Freuler favours a date around 1408, after the artist’s return to Siena (Freuler 2002, pp. 193-196, esp. p. 196, and p. 348). Furthermore, Freuler identifies Martino’s hand in the Ceremoniale dei Vescovi (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, cod. Edili 120, cf. Freuler 2002, figs. 408-415) which he dates around the same year. The small corpus of manuscripts cited here is attributable to the first two decades of Martino’s career, after which he seems to have given up his activity as an illuminator in order to dedicate himself exclusively to other fields of painting. Up to his death around 1435 he painted several important fresco cycles in the Sienese Duomo and the Palazzo Pubblico. Commissions for altarpieces and polychrome sculptures further attest to his versatility and to his prestige as one of the city’s official artists.

LITERATURE: De Ricci/Wilson 1935-40/Reprint 1961, vol. 2, p. 1707, C11; Palladino 2003, cat. no. 31, pp. 56-57. Bellosi 1975; exh. cat.Washington 1975, pp. 47-49; Dini 1982; Labriola 1998, pp. 202-214; Freuler 2002; Labriola 2004, pp. 740-741. This description is largely based on Pia Palladino’s entry in the catalogue of the exhibition Treasures of a Lost Art.