AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH AN HISTORIATED INITIAL SHOWING SAINT PETER, FROM A BIBLE IN LATIN.

TEXT FROM THE END OF FIRST EPISTLE AND THE BEGINNING OF SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER.

(13th century). 248 x 152 mm (9 3/4 x 6"). Double column, 55 lines of text in a very small, pleasing gothic book hand.

Attractively matted. Capitals struck with red, rubrics in red, chapter numbers and headlines in red and blue, four prominent chapter initials in red or blue with elaborate penwork in the same two colors, and one side WITH AN EXCELLENT FOUR-LINE HISTORIATED "S" IN COLORS AND GOLD, SHOWING SAINT PETER. An insignificant small marginal hole, an equally insignificant short tear at one edge, minor soiling and creasing, but generally in fresh, appealing condition, the richly painted initial without any erosion of pigment or gilt.

This and the next leaf, from the same manuscript, have illumination in the style of the Grusch atelier, a group of 10 or 12 artists who take their name from the canon who copied one of their Bibles in 1246. At work in Paris for about 35 years, beginning in the late 1230s, the group produced some 39 manuscripts known to Robert Branner (see his "Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis," pp 82-86, and illustrations 212-43). The manuscript from which these two leaves come was larger than the so-called pocket Bibles and no doubt commissioned by a person of some means. A rich blue predominates in the initial, with maroon and orange serving as strong secondary colors. Peter sits with authority on his throne, the (immense) key to the kingdom of heaven grasped firmly in his left hand. (ST11317)