This large vellum cutting with pigment and gold comes from what was once a world-class manuscript of fabulous beauty, owned originally by Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) whose marriage united the major portions of Spain, elevating the land to the status of a world power. The manuscript was presented by Ferdinand and Isabelle to the Dominican convent of Santo Tomas in Avila. The convent was founded in 1478, so that presumably the manuscript was produced in that year or later, but before 1492, when, with the last conquest of Granada, the last Muslim outpost in Iberia, the arms of the monarchs changed from the form seen here. The convent was greatly favored by ferdinand and Isabelle, who funding the buildig of it's chapel. The choir book remained in the convent for 400 years until it came into the scissor-weilding hands of Manuel Rico y Sinobas, who snipped out some of the miniatures and broke up the gradual by pieceal sale of it's leaves, some of which were aquired by such notable owners as the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge and Prince Liechtenstein. Bordona in "Spanish Illumination", calls this manuscript "one of the most sumptous and artistic series of choir books in all Spain", and suggests that the artist was Juan de Carrion, who was working in Avila in the 1470's. Ref: Voelkle & Wieck, Breslauer Collection, 1992, no. 30. Apprx 22-1/4" x 5-1/2".
5,000/7,000
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