Illuminated Initial, C15/16th | A Bishop Saint, historiated initial ‘S’ from a Choirbook on vellum, illuminated by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore in Pavia, Italy (Lombardy), c. 1500

Illuminated initial, cutting, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, 85 x 90 mm, initial ‘S’, reverse with remains of one line of text and music on a four-line red stave, rastrum 42 mm, slight cracking and some rubbing to the gold leaf, cut to shape, framed

SAINTLY BISHOP ILLUMINATED BY THE MASTER OF THE GRADUALS OF SAN SALVATORE

Set against a golden backdrop within an elegantly curving initial 'S', the saintly figure of a bishop stands. His gaze directed to the left, humbly cast downward as if in deep contemplation. This serene and thoughtful expression of the Bishop Saint reveals the strong influence of the artist Vincenzo Foppa (1430-1515/6), one of the most prominent Lombard painters. The velvet nature of the colours and the soft shading for the skin and cloth reveal the high quality of work achieved by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore which recalls the smooth painted surfaces of the artist’s monumental works in panel paintings (cf. a panel with St Dominic, priv. coll.; see Mulas, op. cit. 2007, fig. 3).

This illumination was attributed to the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore in Pavia by the scholar Pier Luigi Mulas (Le Maître des Graduels de San Salvatore de Pavie’, pp. 223-33, and ‘I Corali di San Sisto’, pp. 45-66). The artist takes their sobriquet from two graduals, now held at the Pavia, Museo Civico, MSS 544 and 545, which he illuminated for the Benedictine monastery of San Salvatore in Pavia. This Master was active around the end of the fifteenth until the beginning of the sixteenth century in Lombardy where he worked not only as an illuminator but also as a panel painter. Like many of the leading artists of the time, he was able to create monumental works such as frescoes and panel paintings as well as small-formatted works like miniatures for illuminated manuscripts. Over the duration of his career, the Master developed from the more traditionally Gothic approach inspired by the works of Belbelo da Pavia, to a decorative Renaissance style. All works produced by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore appear to have been created for Benedictine monasteries belonging to the congregation of Santa Giustina, Padua (Canova 1984, p. 490), which suggests the artist might have been a member of the order.

PROVENANCE

1. Reiss & Sohn, 2001.

2. Private Collection.

3. Sotheby's, London, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Sale, 6 December 2016, lot 9.

4. Acquired by present owner from the above sale.

LITERATURE

Ibidem. ‘I Corali di San Sisto’, in I corali benedettini di San Sisto a Piacenza, 2011, pp. 45-66, esp. p. 57, fig. 15.

Mulas , Pier Luigi. ‘Le Maître des Graduels de San Salvatore de Pavie’, in Quand la peinture était dans les livres, 2007, pp. 223-33, esp. p. 223.

Mariani Canova, Giordana. "La miniatura nei manoscritti liturgici della congregazione di S. Giustina in area padana: opere e contenuti devozionali." In Riforma de/la Chiesa, cultura e spiritualita nel quattrocento veneto: Atti de! convegno per ii VI Centenario de/la nascita di Ludovico Barbo, Cesena, pp. 490.