The final flourishing of manuscript illumination - Painting on a small scale

50 Christ taking leave of his mother

Miniature on vellum mounted on wood, illuminated by Jacopo del Giallo?. Italy, Rome, c. 1540.

165 x 110 mm. – Miniature set within four-sided border with birds, putti, animals and flowers on gold ground. – Laid down on wooden panel. – Illumination preserved in good condition, stain due to water spotting in the right corner.

PROVENANCE: 1.Two putti in the lower border holding a blazon with the entwined initials BYT and two smaller initials OG. 2. Joseph Daniel Böhm (1794-1865) of Vienna, artist and collector, one of founding fathers of art history in Austria, cf. Lugt no. 271. 3.Thomas Carr Howe, San Francisco, former director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. 4. European private collection.

TEXT: There is no indication that the side of the leaf which is pasted onto a wooden panel contains any text, although the arrangement of the border decoration, which is a little smaller to the right, suggests that the illumination is on a verso. In view of its dimensions the leaf could come from a prayerbook or a book of hours and the miniature could therefore have accompanied a prayer to the Virgin Mary.

ILLUMINATION: In a grand vaulted Renaissance loggia Christ bids farewell to his mother in the village of Bethany before entering Jerusalem for the last time. Mary is leaning towards him in a gesture of blessing, while he kneels before her and crosses his arms in front of his chest, signalling the honour he confers on her. Peter and another apostle accompany the Saviour. Mary Magdalen and St John the Evangelist escort the Virgin. In the background the view opens onto a mountainous landscape, beautifully rendered in soft pastel tones, with a big lake on the right in the distance and a dome evoking Jerusalem also nestled on the right. No mention is made in the Gospels of this rarely depicted episode of Christ taking leave of his mother and it can be interpreted as a conjecture in the chronology of the Passion of Christ.The episode is recounted in Pseudo-Bonaventura’s Meditations on the Life of Christ, which is therefore to be named as the textual source for pictorial representations of this subject, among with are panel paintings, e.g. by Corregio (London, National Gallery, 1514/15) and by Lorenzo Lotto (Berlin, SMB-PK Gemäldegalerie, 1521). While both Corregio and Lorenzo Lotto show the Virgin Mary in a state of deep grief and pain the artist of our miniature takes a different iconographic approach. Calmly and peacefully the Virgin is turning to her son. Her outstretched hand seems to signify that she likewise bids him farewell, but without being overwhelmed by her sorrow. The richly decorated border not only includes delicately painted cameos of superior quality but also an abundance of birds, animals and flowers rendered with such unusual skill and exactitude that one can precisely identify their various species. Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of the Blue and Yellow Macaw (not found in Europe before 1505), in addition to the rare Hoopœ, the European barn owl, and an African guinea-fowl. The way in which these various species of birds interact with other animals, among which are a turtle, a lizard, a hare and a cat, suggests a hierarchy in which the birds dominate. Similarly to Flemish trompe l’œil border decoration, the borders are arranged in separate compartments on the matt gold ground and the naturalistically rendered flora and fauna seem to float in space. This exquisitely painted miniature, which unites all stylistic traits of High Renaissance manuscript painting in Italy, may be attributed to Jacopo del Giallo, a gifted yet hitherto little known miniaturist who for the most part was active in Rome and who was praised by Vasari during his lifetime.Trained in Florence by his father, Antonio di Jacopo, he also worked in Venice and Milan before settling in Rome, where he was employed at the Vatican by the papal court. Jacopo’s familiarity with the works of Matteo da Milano is apparent in the rich border decoration. Matteo da Milano worked first in Ferrara, then in Milan, and is documented in Rome from 1513 onwards. Like Jacopo, his illuminations show a predilection for flowers, accurately studied birds and fanciful beasts, set on a gold ground in the borders. However, in splitting the border decoration into separate panels Jacopo skilfully combines the various compartments of the border decoration and the central image field and directs the eye of the beholder onto the impressive three-dimensionality of the vaulted loggia.The architectural setting appears to be an allusion to Jacopo’s hometown Florence with Masaccio’s (1401-28) Trinity in Santa Maria Novella. The miniature reveals the artist’s study not only of monumental painting at the Vatican but also a deeper familiarity with the art of Leonardo da Vinci. The softly floating movements of the figures, the lively gestures and the landscape are stylistic elements reminiscent of the art of Leonardo, who arrived in Rome in 1514 following his sojourn in Milan. Thus far there is little research into the œuvre of Jacopo del Giallo and we currently lack a sufficiently detailed basis that would allow us to define the position of this miniature within his activity. The degree of sophistication which the artist displays in this superb miniature, however, is characteristic of a mature stage at which the achievements of panel painting naturally merge with the idiom of manuscript illumination.

LITERATURE: The miniature is hitherto unpublished. Levi d’Ancona 1962; exh. cat.Vatican 1985; Sarti 2000.