King David holding a scroll

The artist takes his name from a group of three miniatures formerly in the Wildenstein collection and has since been the subject of a steadily expanding corpus, now comprising around twenty cuttings. His style reflects the rich artistic environment of turn-of-the-century Milan, combining traditional Lombard style with newer influences from Leonardesque artists such as Ambrogio Bergognone, Bernardino dei Conti, and Bernardino Luini.

Characteristic features include sharply defined, somewhat angular physiognomies, cool and fixed expressions, and a dense, enamel-like application of colour heightened with gold. Our miniature provides compelling evidence of the assimilation of Leonardesque style in turn-of-the-century Milan.

The miniature is in the original verso, contained in an initial C for the hymn Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis [The moaning of death surrounded me], introit to the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday. On the reverse, two four-staves of music are still visible with the words [D]omine et […]templo sancto. The original setting of the miniature would thus have been the Temporal of a Gradual, in the section between the First Sunday of Advent to Passion Week.

A more recent hypothesis suggests that the Master of the Wildenstein Salomon may be identifiable with the Milanese painter Protasio Crivelli, who is documented in Milan in 1487 as an apprentice in the workshop of Marco d’Oggiono, who himself was an apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci.