Three very large historiated initials cut from a set of choirbooks.

MASTER B.F.

Published by Italy (Lodi), early sixteenth century., 1500

About this Item

(i) Very large initial 'M' (161 x 164 mm, perhaps introducing the chant Maria Magdalena et altera Maria for Easter Monday in an Antiphonal) enclosing a scene of the Two Maries and the Angel at the Tomb set before a fine dawn landscape, a large rocky outcrop behind the tomb, the outer stems of the 'M' terminating in human feet, the central stem indicated at the head by a suspended classical capital and at the foot by a column base on which appear the small initials 'B F', the column base clasped by two blue human hands which emerge from the foliage attached to the outer stems of the 'M', the whole delicately painted in colours and silver (oxidised), heightened in gold and set against a burnished gold ground; some surface cracking and slight discolouration of the burnished gold, otherwise in excellent condition; pasted into a card mount. (ii) Very large initial 'N' (169 x 177 mm, perhaps introducing the chant Nos autem gloriari for Maundy Thursday in a Gradual) enclosing Christ Washing Peter's Feet, St John standing behind Christ with a towel, set within a richly decorated classical room around which eight other disciples are seated, the initial 'N' itself partly encased and entwined by elaborate foliage and incorporating a grotesque bust and two birds' heads whose beaks interlock at the top centre, the whole delicately painted in colours and silver (oxidised), heightened in gold, and set against a burnished gold ground; some retouching of an area of the frieze and the coffered ceiling where evidently once damaged, some surface cracking of the burnished gold, otherwise in excellent condition; pasted into a card mount. (iii) Very large initial 'S' (162 x 166 mm, perhaps introducing the chant Salve sancta parens in a Gradual) enclosing the Birth of the Virgin, StAnne lying in a canopied bed with a green coverlet and the baby, in swaddling clothes, being handed by a nurse to a woman in the foreground, the initial 'S' formed of two stylised dolphins whose tails terminate in cornucopias, the whole delicately painted in shades predominantly of blue, green, brown, and grey and set against a burnished gold ground; some flaking of the burnished gold along the left-hand side of the initial, otherwise in excellent condition; pasted into a card mount. Three extremely fine initials by the enigmatic artist known as Master B.F., one of the most inventive and accomplished illuminators of the Italian High Renaissance. They come almost certainly from a magnificent set of about twenty choirbooks belonging to the Olivetan monastery of Santi Angelo e Niccolò of Villanove Sillaro in the diocese of Lodi, near Milan, which was suppressed in 1799. 'Master B.F.' is the name first assigned in 1931 to the artist of the Villanova Sillaro initials by Paul Wescher, who in 1960 suggested that he was to be identified with Francesco Binasco (Francesco da Lonate, also known as 'il Binasco') and that the letters 'B' and 'F' stood for 'Binascus Fecit'. While ostensibly rather implausible, some of the artist's initials are signed simply 'B'. Francesco da Lonate was an illuminator, goldsmith and engraver documented as occupying the official positions 'revisore' of the Mint and 'miniatore ducale' under the Sforza dukes Massimiliano Maria (1512 1515) and Francesco II (1521 1535). However, since Binasco is not recorded before 1513 (Master B.F's activity is datable from 1490 onwards) and no documented works by him have been discovered with which to compare the miniatures signed by Master B.F., Wescher's theory remains controversial. The only documented illuminator at Villanova Sillaro at the right time is Fra Giovanni da Verona (c.1457 1525). 'Scholars have situated Master B.F.'s artistic production within the Leonardesque school of painting that developed in Lombardy in the early 1500s, identifying derivations of both figural types and compositional motifs in the monumental works of Leonardo da Vinci who was active in Milan from about 1482 to 1499 and again from 1506 to. Seller Inventory # G2540

Bibliographic Details

Title: Three very large historiated initials cut ...

Publisher: Italy (Lodi), early sixteenth century.

Publication Date: 1500

Edition: First Edition.