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Christ blessing
Historiated initial V on vellum from a gradual,
illuminated by Lorenzo Monaco.
Italy, Florence, c. 1420-1423.
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153 x 138 mm. Tempera and burnished gold.
Provenance:
1. Florence, S. Maria Nuova (fol. 13v of the Corale H 74 in the Museo di Bargello in Florence). – 2. London, Collection of C. H. Hamilton. – 3. London, Sotheby’s, 8 Dec. 1975, lot 4. – 4. Private collection, Germany.
Text:
(allel)ui(a). V (enite benedictis patris mei)… This is the introit for Wednesday after Easter.
Verso (i.e. Recto in the original context of the manuscript): (..alle)luia. Co(munio). (Si consure)xistis cum Chri(sto, quae sursum) sunt querite (alleluia ubi…) Communio of Thursday after Easter.
There are several indications that plausibly suggest that the fragment at hand once formed fol. 13 of the Corale H 74 of the Museo di Bargello in Florence. Thus it constitutes a further and hitherto unknown complement to the fragmentary choir book, a gradual comprising the liturgy for the Sundays from Easter through the 24th Sunday after Pentecost (Diurno Domenicale). For the reconstruction of this choir book see: L.B. Kanter, in: Exh. cat. New York, Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300-1450, New York 1994, pp. 287ff; Mirella Levi D’Ancona, The Illuminators and Illuminations of the Choir Books from Santa Maria degli Angeli and Santa Maria Nuova and their Documents, vol 1, Florence 1994, pp.109ff; as well as the recent exh. cat. Florence 2006, No. XIII).
Illumination:The fragment at hand, illuminated by the Florentine artist Lorenzo Monaco first reappeared in 1975, when it was sold at Sotheby’s, London together with another fragment from the same choir book with a figure of a bearded saint, whose current whereabouts are unknown. Already then was it linked with the art of Lorenzo Monaco. Due to its small dimensions (7,1 x 4,3 cm) the second fragment, of which unfortunately there are no photographic documents, cannot have contained a historiated initial but rather an element of the borders of a leaf of particular liturgical importance. The figure may have represented a Camaldulese monk or a prophet.
The gradual under discussion is part of a multi-volume choir book series for the Camaldulese monastery of S. Maria degli Angeli and the hospital church of S. Maria Nuova in Florence, which was produced in S. Maria degli Angeli’s own scriptorium. This series of liturgical books was commissioned in 1385 by the families Albizzi and Baroncelli. The first volumes were illuminated by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci. Upon his entry into the monastery of S. Maria degli Angeli in 1390/91 Don Lorenzo Monaco was immediately employed in this project. He had already made proof of his talent in the years 1392-95 in the illumination of the Corale C 71 of S. Maria Nuova (Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello), and he was to remain involved in this prominent project (with repeated intervals) until the end of his career. The choir book H 74, and along with it the excised initial V with Christ blessing, doubtless belongs to a later period within the artist’s career. It can be connected with documents on payments to Lorenzo Monaco for the illuminations in a choir book for S. Maria Nuova, dated 1413. In fact these miniatures that are clearly attributable to Lorenzo show stylistic affinities with the Coronation of the Virgin of 1414, today in the Uffizi.
The illumination of this choir books must have extended over a longer span of time, as two stylistic phases - one datable to around 1413, the other around 1420 – can be distinguished. Obviously Lorenzo Monaco executed his projects in several stages, which accounts for the heterogeneous style of the decoration of most of his books. This phenomenon has already been detected in his earliest works from the late 14th century.
A comparison of our miniature with that of the Trinity from the same Corale H 74 (now in the Wildenstein Collection, Musée Marmottan, Paris), and especially with the face of God the Father with its strict frontality, reveals clear stylistic parallels, although the latter is of an even finer modelling and is characterized by a more intense and determined facial expression. Our miniature was executed most likely at a somewhat later date than its counterpart in Paris, which should be ascribed to the earlier campaign of illumination of around 1413.
In the phase around 1420, to which the initial at hand may be dated, Lorenzo had developed a freer drawing style, which became also somewhat less precise, a phenomenon that can be witnessed also in the remaining miniatures in the Corale H 74 belonging to this campaign (exh. cat. Florence 2006, No. XIII).
Literature:
Exh. cat. Lorenzo Monaco: from Giotto’s Tradition to Renaissance, Florence 2006, No. XIIIb.
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