LIGHTING Initial "P" historiated. Two saints (Liberate... Lot 17

[LIGHTING] Initial "P" historiated. Two saints (Liberate and Faustina?) Fragment of an antiphonal or gradual Tempera, gouache, ink and burnished gold on parchment. Italy, Verona (?), c. 1490-1500 Verona workshop (influence of the workshop of Francesco then Girolamo Dai Libri?) Dimensions: fragment (H. 123 x 144 mm); initial (H. 104 x 85 mm ) On a gold background, this initial "P" extracted from an antiphonal or gradual, blazes with its shimmering colours . The historiated scene depicts two figures of saints with a sword and the palm of martyrdom as their attributes - perhaps Saint Liberate and Saint Faustina. In order to escape the marriage imposed on them by their parents, Liberate and Faustina took refuge with the monk Marcellus, who led them beyond the Po to the convent of St. Margaret in Como. These two saints were venerated in Como, Lombardy, on January 18 and in northern Italy. The vivid palette and style of the figures recall the works painted in Verona in the last decades of the Cinquecento until the first half of the 16th century, notably the works of Francesco (c; 1450-1503/1506) and then Girolamo (1474-1555) Dai Libri, father and son illuminators. The artist in this initial is familiar with the ornamental and figurative language of the Dai Libri workshop in Verona. On this workshop, see Mantegna e le arti a Verona 1450-1500, edited by S. Marinelli and P. Marini, exhibition 2006-2007. Text: in Latin, Gothic liturgical writing. Music notated square on staves with four lines drawn in red ink. On the front, "num Dom[ine] [...] Pe[...]"; on the back, "iohanes di[...] tia num si [...]". Condition: a few lacks in the burnished gold without gravity.