A Handsome Bible Leaf with a Lovely Historiated Initial and a Very Rare Guide Sketch for the Illuminator Still Visible

TEXT FROM THE OPENING OF PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS.

(Paris: mid-13th century). 146 x 105 mm. (5 3/4 x 4 1/8"). Double column, 50 lines, written in black ink in a very small but quite readable flourished gothic pearl script.

Attractively matted. Capitals struck with red, rubrics in red, headlines in red and blue, a five-line "T" in several colors (the horizontal element in the shape of a morose serpent), and AN ESPECIALLY FINE 11-LINE "P" IN SEVERAL COLORS SHOWING A BAPTISM (perhaps St. Paul being baptized by Ananias), the proselyte in an orange baptismal font, his starkly white naked body visible from the waist up, his hands raised in prayer as a flask of holy water is emptied on his head. THE LOWER LEFT MARGIN WITH A GUIDE SKETCH OF THE SCENE, showing both figures as well as the baptismal accoutrements. Mounting traces on the verso, remnants of a tab on the fore edge. ◆IN REMARKABLY FINE CONDITION, THE BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED INITIAL VIRTUALLY FAULTLESS.

In addition to the artistic merits of its beautifully rendered historiated initial, this leaf is of special interest because it contains a marginal guide sketch. The parent manuscript from which this leaf comes can almost certainly be attributed to the so-called Leber group (named for the celebrated Leber Psalter now at Rouen). Branner says that the shop in which the Leber colleagues were trained "produced some of the most beautiful work of the 1230s and 1240s." The present leaf is a testament to their excellent work, featuring a baptismal scene (which illustrates how the Thessalonians "have turned from idols to serve the living and true God") within a pink initial with muted white tracery and a deep blue background, accentuating the stark whiteness of the newly baptized figure. Notwithstanding a certain expression of discomfort that goes with the baptismal dousing, the initial, including even its very long and elegant descender, seems to be all lucidity, cleanliness, and ordered contrast, strongly emphasizing the purity of the converted soul. Though the preliminary drawing here is a bit difficult to see, it communicates a good amount of detail about the intended scene. In his "Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work," Jonathan J. G. Alexander says that preliminary drawings for miniatures came into use during the late 12th and early 13th century, and he indicates that such a sketch would often have been drawn in the place where the initial would be painted (and thus obscured by the final painting) or else placed at the very edge of the margin (and consequently trimmed off during binding). But fortunately for us, these sketches were occasionally made far enough away from the edge to survive and not sufficiently effaced afterward, thus giving us a special insight into the Medieval illuminator's manner of operation. These kinds of drawings are of two basic types--those that simply comprise a symbol to suggest content (e.g., a hammer to indicate the need for a crucifixion scene) and those (like ours) that provide a rudimentary outline of key elements in the painting. The presence of guide sketches is significant evidence that a manuscript was probably produced commercially, rather than in a monastery, where scribes and illuminators working in close collaboration would presumably have communicated directly so as to make these visual cues unnecessary. Alexander reports that he has seen 72 manuscripts with guide sketches (all listed in his appendix), most of them French or English. Graphite, which took over from hard point as a medium for ruling during the 11th and 12th centuries, was probably used to execute the drawings. (For a full discussion of guide sketches, see "Medieval Illuminators," especially pp. 63-71 and figs. 93-114.) Although someone with the responsibility of erasing the drawing has apparently attempted to do his work here, our marginal sketch, though quite faint, is still visible to the naked eye and even more perceptible under magnification.
(ST16379-005)

Price: $10,000.00