[ENLUMINURE] - Lot 16

[ENLUMINURE] Initial D from a choir book (gradual or antiphonary). Saint John the Baptist Illuminated manuscript on parchment. Italy, Tuscany (Florence?), circa 1515-1520. Attributable to the Monte di Giovanni di Miniato [Monte di Giovanni del Fora (1448-1533)] circle (active in Florence in the first quarter of the 16th century). Initial size: 165x160mm Initial pasted on a cardboard support (unread text on the back), cut following the perimeter of the letter. Framed. Beautiful historiated initial (Saint John the Baptist standing in a landscape) painted in a large initial, traced in blue with acanthus and gilded arabesque motifs, set with compositions combining precious stones, pearls and small red discs with white dots, green and pink acanthus leaf extensions and cornucopia with yellow fruit and foliage, initial on burnished gold background. Historiated initial "D" probably opening the feast of St. John the Baptist in a gradual, with the introit "De ventre matris" (?). Saint John the Baptist, a red robe over his tunic, holds a phylactery inscribed "Ecce Agnus Dei", against a landscape background of tapering trees and streams behind and in front of the saintly figure. An axe is planted in the trunk of a tree, certainly a reference to Matthew 3:10: "Already the axe is at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire...". This historiated initial can be compared with other folios and illuminations attributed to Monte di Giovanni di Miniato, such as an initial D depicting the Marriage of Cana with a view of Florence's Piazza San Marco (Florence, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, c. 1513-1526; see Garzellli, 1985, p. 640); initial V depicting the Annunciation with a view of the Cloister della Badia in Florence (Florence, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, c. 1514; see Garzelli, 1985, p. 633); initial H depicting the Baptism of Jesus (Archivio dell' Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Cod. C n. 11, f.4v, c. 1513-1526; published in Garzelli, 1985, pp. 628 and 630). Monte di Giovanni del Fora (1448-1533) was an illuminator active in Florence in the last quarter of the 15th century and the first quarter of the 16th century. He was the brother of Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora, with whom he collaborated on luxurious secular and liturgical manuscripts. Monte di Giovanni was not only an illuminator, but also a panel painter and mosaicist (see, for example, San Zenobio, Florence, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo). See on Monte di Giovanni del Fora: A. Garzelli, Miniatura fiorentina del rinascimento, 1985, part IX, pp. 267-83; Tacconi, Liturgy and Chant at the Cathedral of Florence, Yale University, 1999; L. Fabbri and M. Tacconi, Biblioteca medicea laurenziana. Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, I libri del Duomo di Firenze. Codici liturgici e biblioteca di Santa Maria del Fiore (secoli 11.-16.), Florence, 1997). Provenance: On back, gallerist's and collector's label: "COLLEZIONE SANGIORGI. 14608 NE1/E10". Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1960) was an important collector and gallery owner, as well as a scholar and art historian. For a time, the gallery was based at Palazzo Borghese, 117 Via Ripetta, Rome.