Master of the Romuléon of Cluny Leaflet from... - Lot 3 - Giquello

Lot 3
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2500 - 3000 EUR
Master of the Romuléon of Cluny Leaflet from... - Lot 3 - Giquello
Master of the Romuléon of Cluny Leaflet from a book of hours, early Hours of the Virgin (premium), brown ink, gouache and burnished gold on parchment. Nativity, curved miniature surrounded by illuminated borders with coloured acanthus decoration, small gold discs, floral and fruit motifs on a liquid gold background, zoomorphic hybrids in the margins, ornate initials; on the reverse, border on three sides with compartmentalized background with acanthus decoration and floral motifs France, Paris, ca. 1480-1490. Sheet size: 111 x 189 mm (text on back, end of texts for Hours of the Virgin (lauds)). Ink a little pale, some minor rubbing to the border, but overall very good condition. This folio and the two lots that follow (lots 4 and 5) were painted by an artist named "Master of the Romuléon of Cluny" by François Avril after the dispersed fragments of a Romuléon in the translation of Jean Miélot, perhaps commissioned by René II of Lorraine. The Musée de Cluny holds the only full-page painting of his work known to date, and a smaller one (Musée de Cluny, Inv. 804 and 1819). Six miniatures have been found in the Musée de l'émail in Limoges (see C. Beaujard, Miniatures et dessins...Exposition Limoges, 1997, p. 43 and ill. 3-8). Some other miniatures are scattered in private collections. Formerly known as the "Master of Morgan 26" (identified by Plummer, see later J. Lauga, Les manuscrits liturgiques dans le diocèse de Langres à la fin du Moyen Age. Les commanditaires et leurs artistes, 2007), the "Master of the Romuléon of the Museum of Cluny" illuminated numerous incunabula for King Charles VIII, most of them printed for Antoine Vérard, which indicates that the illuminator worked until around 1495, the date on which his hand can be found on a Miroir historial by Vincent de Beauvais. The majority of this artist's activity can be located in Paris. His hand is to be found in the very fine book of hours, also for use in Rome (Heures dites Rochereau-Le Goix), preserved in Chaumont, BM, ms 34, whose layout is reminiscent of the present leaves (see Delaunay, 2000, vol. 2, pp. 55-60) and also in several Heures à l'usage de Paris (Paris, BnF, lat. 1423 and lat. 13296). Let us also mention the Heures à l'usage de Langres preserved in New York, PML, M. 26 (J. Plummer suggests that the artist came from Langres or at least from the east of France). This attachment to eastern France leads Nicole Reynaud to say that a manuscript of the Jeu des échecs moralisés (Paris, BnF, fr. 2000), painted by the "Master of the Romuléon of Cluny", is probably of Langres origin. The "Master of the Romuléon of the Cluny Museum" proposes compositions that betray his good knowledge of prints. On this artist, one can consult I. Delaunay, Echanges artistiques entre les livres d'heures manuscrits et imprimés produits à Paris vers 1480-1500, PhD thesis Paris IV, Paris, 2000, pp. 55-63, 139-141, 243-247, 272-274). Provenance: Former Bosch Foundation collection.
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