Cristoforo Cortese and workshop (?) (active c. 1390 - c.1445)

Saints Philip and James

Written in Latin, a page from an illuminated Gradual, the Introit to the feast of Saints Philip and James, Exclamaverunt ad te Domine in tempore afflictionis suae…(They cried out to you, O Lord, in the time of their affliction)

Northern Italy, Venice, c. 1400–1415

Overall dimensions, 358 x 275 mm.

Historiated initial “E”, 68 x 86 mm

Rastrum, 21 mm. with eight 4-lined staves in red ink

Tempera, ink and gold on parchment

$11,500

From the most important and prolific Venetian illuminator of the early fifteenth century, this leaf preserves the Introit for the Feast of Saints Philip and James, celebrated at Mass on May 3. The large historiated initial ‘E’ for Exclamaverunt ad te Domine in tempore afflictionis suae depicts the two apostles at half-length, their faces individualized with subtle brushwork, expressive yet distinct. The text — “They cried out to you, O Lord, in the time of their affliction” (Psalm 77:34 Vulgate) — is particularly apt: the apostles are remembered as having turned to Christ in their trials, and the chant underscores their steadfastness in the face of suffering.

Philip and James are venerated together because their relics were enshrined in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Rome in the sixth century, leading to their joint feast throughout the medieval liturgy. The leaf retains its original foliation ‘CXIII’ in red ink at the head of the border, placing it firmly within the Sanctoral of a monumental Gradual. The recto preserves cues for feasts from St. Tiburtius and Valerian (April 14) to St. Vitalis (April 28), with the celebration of Philip and James given in full, beginning with the Introit and Psalm.

The refined modeling of the faces, the brisk treatment of draperies, and the restrained yet luminous palette, pink, yellow, green, and blue enlivened with white tracery are hallmarks of Cristoforo Cortese in his early career. The frequent use of pink and yellow grounds is a diagnostic feature of Cortese’s production before 1420, situating this miniature among his formative works. Cortese was the first great illuminator of fifteenth-century Venice, and his workshop supplied monumental Graduals and choirbooks to monastic orders and churches throughout northern Italy. His figures are marked by delicate hair and beard detailing, emotive expression, and a painterly fluidity that bridges manuscript illumination with contemporary Venetian panel painting. Major works by Cortese and his workshop survive in leading collections worldwide, including the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Morgan Library & Museum, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, situating the present leaf within the artist’s documented oeuvre.

Our firm was also fortunate to identify a related leaf from the same long-dispersed Gradual: the Prophet in a Red Hat, introducing the Introit for the feast of the Many Common Martyrs. That leaf, now in a private collection in Italy, shares with the present example the same format, eight staves ruled with a 21 mm. rastrum, square notation, rounded gothic bookhand, Roman numeral foliation, and the Venetian palette of pink, yellow, green, and blue enlivened with white tracery confirming their common origin. Together, the two enrich our understanding of Cortese’s early output, demonstrating his ability to invest monumental liturgical books with vivid humanity and devotional intensity.

PROVENANCE

1. Unknown American dealer, indication on the verso written in pencil with marking mb, 58-b, Italy c. 1450

2. Mr. Kenneth W. Rendell, Somerville, Massachusetts, USA

LITERATURE

C. de Hamel, F. Toniolo, S. Hindman, The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Paintings, London, #37, pp. 370–379, 2021.

G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, Cinisello Balsamo, pp. 392–393, 2013.

F. Todini, ed., Una collezione di miniature Italiane, vol. 2, 1994, no. VII.

M. Bollati, in Dalla Bibbia di Corradino a Jacopo della Quercia. Sculture miniature italiane del Medioevo e del Rinascimento, ed. A. Bacchi, Milan, 1997, pp. 128–129.

G. Freuler, Tendencies of Gothic in Florence: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci, Corpus of Florentine Painting IV, vol. 7, part 2, Florence, 1997.

G. Zeileis, “Più ridon le carte” Buchmalerei aus Mittelalter und Renaissance, Katalog einer Privatsammlung von illuminierten Einzelblättern, 2009 [2004], no. 11.

S. Panayotova, “Cristoforo Cortese in Cambridge,” in Miniatura. Lo sguardo e la parola: Studi in onore di Giordana Mariani Canova, ed. F. Toniolo and G. Toscano, Milan, 2012, pp. 186–189.