AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH TWO LOVELY GRI...

TEXT FROM THE SUFFRAGES.

      Flanders, ca. 1460 158 x 108 mm. (6 1/8 x 4 1/8"). Single column, 14 lines of text in a very fine gothic book hand. Attractively matted. Rubrics in red, each side with a bar border of red and gold terminating in foliate clumps and forming an "L"-shaped frame for the text, verso with a two-line initial in burnished gold on a pink and blue ground, BOTH SIDES WITH A VERY FINE SIX-LINE GRISAILLE INITIAL (measuring approximately 40 x 40 mm.), THE RECTO SHOWING ST. HERMES ON HORSEBACK, THE VERSO ST. AEGIDIUS (GILES) WITH HIS HIND, the two scenes enclosed by a blue letter highlighted with white, and the whole on a cusped ground of burnished gold. Minor soil and discoloration at edges, otherwise in very fine condition, the gold bright and the margins especially ample. Our artist has used great skill and a particularly pleasing method to produce two very fine historiated initials for this leaf. In use especially during the late Medieval period, the technique employed here is called grisaille, a method of painting that imitates the effects of relief sculpture. Normally involving monochrome painting that employs shades of gray (the term derives from the word "gris," French for "gray"), grisaille work was generally executed using a black pigment such as lampblack and an inert white pigment, often--as here--with the addition of gold highlights. The technique first appeared in the late 13th century and experienced its greatest period of popularity from the second half of the 14th through the end of the 15th century. This style enabled the artist to depict subtle degrees of light and shadow, and consequently show considerable detail--seen here, for example, in the face of Aegidius. The two historiated initials present a striking contrast. Saint Hermes gallops across the field, his steed prancing. Saint Aegidius sits quietly in his forest retreat, his hand absently caressing the diminutive hind who was his companion and who had nourished him with her milk. Hermes was popuar in Flanders, where his relics were said to have been deposited in Ronse, which became a popular pilgrimage destination, especially for those seeking relief for mental problems. According to legend, Hermes was once a slave. He was freed and prospered, but his Christian faith led to his martyrdom in second century Rome. Aegidius was not a martyr, but a holy hermit from the south of France. His burial place in Saint Gilles du Gard was likewise a destination for pilgrims, and he was considered to offer potent help in averting and curing the plague. The conjuction of appeals to two healing saints, Hermes and Aegidius (known in England as Giles), perhaps reflects the recurrence of plague in the years 1463-65, presumably about when this leaf was produced. $ 7500