Leaf from a Gradual.
[Arezzo, Second Master of the Cortona Antiphonaries] c. 1260-80.
Folio (405 x 285 mm.). MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. In a single Gothic hand (textualis formata) in red and brown inks, seven lines of music in French square notation on four-line staves ruled in red ink on each side, writing frame 330 x 205 mm., ruled in drypoint, LARGE FOLIATE INITIAL IN BLUE, GREEN, RED, PALE YELLOW AND WHITE PIGMENTS, smaller pen-flourished initials in red and blue inks, contemporary manuscript foliation in red ink, one contemporary marginal note erased.
This fragment belongs to the Common of Saints section of A CHOIR BOOK PRODUCED FOR THE FRANCISCAN CONVENT AT CORTONA. The initial’s whimsical decoration and color palette match those of a group of codices realized in the same Arezzo workshop by at least three collaborating artists. The distinctive “ribbon of parchment tinted with egg white” inserted between the letter and its internal ornamentation (Degl’Innocenti Gambuti, tr.) identifies our fragment’s decoration THE WORK OF THE SECOND MASTER OF THE CORTONA ANTIPHONARIES, responsible for at least four other choir books still preserved between Cortona and Arezzo.
The recto begins with three Alleluia verses, followed by the Offertory chant Confitebuntur caeli mirabilia tua domine. The rubric on the bottom right corner of the page introduces the Introit section and specifies its liturgical context: Mass celebrating the feast of a generic group of martyrs from Easter to Pentecost. The decorated S marks the beginning of the Introit antiphon Sancti tui domine benedicent te, which continues on the verso with the verse Exaltabo te deus meus followed by another verse: Sancti tui domine florebunt, a chant more typically used for the Lauds Office. (The erased note next to this last piece may have been signaling this uncommon use.)
In nice condition (blue and green pigments faded or abraded, a 6 mm. marginal tear not affecting text, three later pencil corrections to the music, a later marginal note 7º in red crayon, traces of adhesive tape on the verso).
¶Degl’Innocenti Gambuti, “Sulle tracce di una scuola miniatooria aretina” in I Codici miniati medievali della biblioteca comunale e dell’accdemia etrusca di Cortona 44-6; Passalacqua, I Codici liturgici miniati dugenteschi nell’Archivio Capitolare del Duomo di Arezzo 97-8.
Price: $950.00