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2 - Folio from the Missal of Domenico della Rovere, for use in R…
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Estimate €15,000 - €25,000
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Folio from the Missal of Domenico della Rovere, for use in Rome Resurrection of Christ. Scene set in an architectural décor of pilasters with putti and prophets. In Latin, illuminated folio on parchment, ink, tempera and liquid gold! Italy, Rome, 1483-1485 Attributed to the Master of the della Rovere Missals [Jacopo Ravaldi or Jacques Ravaud or Ravault?], active in Touraine and Rome between 1469 and c. 1500. The frame is fixed around the verso; the parchment has a fine tear. It should be noted that this folio is in a very satisfactory state of preservation compared with the manuscript from which it is taken (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 306). Condition report available on request. On the recto, text in Roman capitals: "RESURREXI ET ADHUC ECUM SUM...", introit for Easter Mass. The text, which has been erased, continued in a cartouche below the capital letters. Verso, text copied in red ink: "Incipit tertia pars missalis secundum usum romane curie...". This text is copied in the same hand as the leaves of M. 306 in the Pierpont Morgan Library. Sight size pending unframing: 334 x 249 mm. Rediscovery of a leaf from one of the volumes of the famous della Rovere Missal, commissioned by Cardinal Domenico della Rovere (1442-1501), nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. His coat of arms, Azure a golden oak tree with branches in saltire, is painted on the front and back of the folio at the foot of the frames. It will be necessary to determine the exact location of this folio in the divided and partly dismembered manuscript, currently preserved in four volumes under the following call numbers: New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 306 [vol. I] 158 leaves, dimensions: 360 x 260 mm [it should be noted that the Pierpont Morgan Library part was bought by J.P. Morgan in 1907 from Edouard Rahir (Paris); this part of the Missal is very damaged, with considerable wetness] [Ill. 1]; Turin, Archivio di Stato, MSS J. II. b. 2-4. Two cut leaves are preserved in London, British Library, Add. 16914. The Master of the Missals della Rovere painted the Pierpont Morgan Library volume in collaboration with another Verona painter, Francesco Bettini, who signed "Francesco Betyni" (fol. 29) and "FRANCISCHVS VERONENSIS ME FECIT" (fol. 78v). By convention, the Master of the della Rovere Missals refers to an illuminator active in Italy and France between 1469 and 1500. He owes his name to this sumptuous multi-volume missal painted for Cardinal Domenico della Rovere, Bishop of Turin in 1482. Active in both Rome and Touraine, this anonymous artist can be identified with Jacopo Ravaldi or, in his French form, Jacques Ravaud. He is mentioned in the archives as a "miniatore francese" in 1469 and again in 1482 (Guéant, in Tours 1500, 2012, p. 258). He was a prolific artist, leaving no fewer than thirty manuscripts, painted alone or in collaboration. Recent research suggests that this artist, who was active for a time in Italy, was in fact a French artist, trained in the entourage of Jean Fouquet (see Avril and Reynaud, 1993, pp. 290-292; Avril, 2003; Hofmann, 2003; Guéant, 2009 and thesis 2010; Guéant, 2011; Tours 1500, 2012: "Le Maître des missels della Rovere (Jacopo Ravaldi?)", pp. 258-260). The artist participated in the decoration of several liturgical manuscripts for Roman prelates, as well as a manuscript for the Confraternity of Saint Luke of the Roman painters, which enables him to be identified with a certain Jacopo Rivaldi, also mentioned in the archives (Statuta artis picturae, dated 1478, Rome, Accademia di San Luca, ms. 1). While continuing to work in Rome, he also responded to French commissions from the 1470s, producing books of hours in full or in part, and also worked for French prelates or notables such as Guillaume Briçonnet or Guillaume de Clugny, sometimes in collaboration with French artists from Tours such as Jean Poyer (the two artists collaborated on the famous Briçonnet Hours; Haarlem, Teylers Museum, Ms. 78; or in the Heures de Rochechouart-Mortemart, London, Christie's, 1 December 2016, lot 19; see Hofmann, 2003). He also collaborated with artists from Tours such as Jean Bourdichon and the Master of Jean Charpentier (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 96, Hours; Dublin, Chester Beatty Libray, WMs 89). Another example of a manuscript produced by the Master of the Missals della Rovere after his return from Italy for a French patron is the Hours painted for Marguerite de Rohan around 1490 (?), which has been well studied by M. Hofmann (2003) (Princeton University Library, Garrett 55) and in which we find a Resurrection that bears comparison with our folio [Fig. 2]. The career of the Master of the Missals della Rovere (Jacopo Ravaldi), a Gyrovague artist with a dual influence, provides an excellent opportunity to study the artistic exchanges between France and Italy. Influenced by the style of Jean Fouquet, the artist also incorporated an ultramontane aesthetic and a knowledge of Roman monuments and art. This can be seen in the present miniature in the treatment of the architectural frame with colonnades, the taste for putti and laurel garlands. F. Avril recalls that it was Pächt and Alexander who, as early as 1966, were struck by the "profoundly French and more specifically Fouquettian" character of the illustration of a Breviary for the use of St Peter's in Rome (Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms. Canon. liturg. 383; see Avril, 2003, p. 395, no. 53). Bibliography: Avril, F. Jean Fouquet. Peintre et enlumineur du XVe siècle, Paris 2003, pp. 395-396. Avril, F. and N. Reynaud. Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, Paris 1993, pp. 290-292, cat. 160. Brenzoni, R. "Il Messale di Domenico della Rovere nella Morgan Library de New York e il suo Miniatore Francesco da Castello", l'Arte, n. 61, 1963, pp. 139-147. Guéant, V. "Du nouveau sur la production des premières années à Rome du Maître des missels della Rovere", in Rivista di storia della miniatura, 13, 2009, pp. 141-155. Guéant, V. "Maestro dei Messali della Rovere (Jacopo Ravaldi)", no. 64 in Benati (D.), Natale (M.), Paolucci (A.) and Balsamo (C.), Melozzo da Forli..., Milan, 2011, pp. 256-257. Guéant, V. " Le Maître des missels della Rovere (Jacopo Ravaldi?)", in Chancel-Bardelot (B.) et alia (dir.), Tours 1500, Capitale des arts, Paris, 2012, pp. 258-260. Harrsen, M. and G. K. Boyce, Italian Manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1953, pp. 33-34, n. 60. Hofmann, M. "Le Maître des Missels della Rovere et les rapports artistiques à Tours", in Art de l'enluminure, 6 (2003), pp. 34-60. Levi d'Ancona, M. "Le Maître des Missels della Rovere: Rapport entre la France et l'Italie vers la fin du XVe et le début du XVIe siècle", in Actes du XIXe Congrès International d'Histoire de l'Art. Relations Artistiques entre la France et les autres Pays depuis le Haut Moyen Âge jusqu'à la fin du XIXe siècle, 1959, pp. 256-263. Pächt P. and J.J.G. Alexander. Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1966, volume I. Quazza, A. and S. Pettenati, "La biblioteca del cardinale Domenico della Rovere: i codici miniati di Torino" in La Miniatura italiana tra Gotico e Rinascimento. Atti del II congresso di storia della miniatura italiana, Cortona 1982, ed. Emanuela Sesti, Florence, 1985, pp. 655-700. Full description in the accompanying catalogue. THIS LOT IS SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC CONDITIONS: Please contact the auction house if you wish to take part in the live sale, leave a fixed order, request a telephone line or take part in the sale in the auction room. A deposit of 30% of the low estimate must be paid at least 48 hours before the sale, if you wish to bid. This deposit must be paid by bank transfer. Bids from bidders who do not meet these specific conditions will not be considered.
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About the sale Rediscovery of two illuminated leaves | Between France and Italy... and vice versa
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Auction time 06/27/2026 at 6:00 PM
Lot description modified on 05/30/2026 at 3:20 PM
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