ENLUMINATION. CHOIR BOOK. Ornate initial I. Tempera,... Lot 20

[ENLUMINATION]. [CHOIR BOOK]. Ornate initial I. Tempera, gouache and gold leaf on parchment. Italy, Lucca (?), circa 1475 (?). Dimensions : 135 x 244 mm Small lacks of pigments (especially the green), some chips. This large initial I is reminiscent of the style of historiated initials to be linked to the cathedral of Lucca. There are two fragments preserved at Oberlin College, donated by Robert Lehmann, which are believed to be fragments from a volume of the series of antiphonaries commissioned by Stefano Trenta, bishop of Lucca from 1448 to 1477. The artist responsible for the initials of Oberlin College also participated in two other volumes (common of saints and sanctoral) preserved in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Lucca (MS 2 and MS 6). This artist has been compared to the production of Lucca artists of the third quarter of the 15th century such as Baldassare di Biagio and Matteo Civitali (see R. Massagli, in Seil and Silva (eds.), Lucca città d'arte e i suoi archivi, Venice, 2001. See also P. Palldino, Treasures of a Lost Art, New York, 2003, nos. 83a and 83b.