[ENLUMINURE]. - Lot 15

[ENLUMINURE]. Fragment from the Gradual of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment. France, Paris (?), circa 1499-1500 Dimensions: 415 x 230 mm This fragment, with the introit Invocabit me et e(go) for the first Sunday of Lent, is taken from the Gradual of Louis XII of France and his second wife, Anne of Brittany, produced in Paris around 1500. This manuscript was undoubtedly intended for use in the royal Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, as suggested by the depiction of Louis and Anne kneeling in prayer before its most famous relic, the Crown of Thorns, in a historiated initial now preserved at the Musée Dobrée in Nantes and taken from the same manuscript. (see Catalogue Galerie Les Enluminures, 1994, no. 28). According to Le Roux de Lincy, the manuscript was dismembered around 1840, when fragments began to appear on the art market in France. Other historiated initials in the manuscript include the Last Supper and Pentecost (Firmin-Didot sale, Paris, June 10, 1884, lot 78; Sotheby's, June 1, 1905, lot 723, then again on December 7, 1924, lot 900; the Pentecost miniature was attributed by J. Günther to Jean Pichore in Brochure 9, 2006, no. 55), the Creation of Eve, Noli me Tangere, Saint Mary Magdalene and the Trinity (Sotheby's, July 8, 1974, lots 26-29). Horizontal cut-outs comprising lines of text and musical staves similar to our fragment, have survived, as for the Second Sunday of Advent (Delorme-Collin du Bocage sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 15, 2004, lot 8), Quinquagesime Sunday (Sotheby's, November 29, 1990, lot 39, and again on July 2, 2013, lot 7), Ash Wednesday (Galerie Les Enluminures, 2004, no. 24 ; Sotheby's, December 6, 2005, lot 21), and the first Friday of Lent (offered for sale by Librairie ancienne Bruno Sepulchre in 2010). Complete leaves include that for the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene with a historiated initial illustrating her Ascension (Sotheby's, July 5, 2016, lot 45) and that for the third Sunday after Easter (Wellesley College, Massachusetts, MS 6). Several bands of border ornaments and initial cut-outs have also been identified, such as the one in the Lilly Library, Bloomington (Indiana), Ricketts 107 (see De Hamel, 2010, whose notice offers a list of known fragments); or the one in Philadelphia, Free Library, Lewis T 659 (see Nicolas Herman's Blog, 2020). The texts identified indicate that this impressive choir book included both the Temporal and the Sanctoral. The largest complete surviving page shows that the volume was substantial, measuring 685 x 515 mm. It was illuminated by a team of renowned Parisian illuminators, including the Master of Philippe de Gueldres (Louis and Anne before the Crown of Thorns), Jean Coene (Ascension of Mary Magdalene) and Jean Pichore (Pentecost). Many extracts include the royal coat of arms of France, the crowned initials L and A (as in the present extract), the ermine of Brittany, and the sheet featuring the Ascension of Mary Magdalene (Sotheby's, July 5, 2016, lot 45) includes the coat of arms of Orleans, Louis' coat of arms before he was crowned king on April 7, 1498. The folio preserved at Wellesley features the arms of France quartered with those of Milan, suggesting that the manuscript was illuminated during the period when Louis was both King of France and Duke of Milan, from September 6, 1499 to February 5, 1500. See: Le Roux de Lincy, A. La Vie de la Reine Anne de Bretagne, 1860-61, II, p. 86. - De Hamel, C. Gilding the Lilly: A Hundred Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts in the Lilly Library, Bloomington, 2010, no. 83, pp. 182-183. - Blog Nicolas Herman, Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis: Louis + Anne Forever.