Beschreibung:

Secondo Maestro del Breviario Strozzi 11 (fl. 1340-50) Job in Bed visited by his Wife, historiated initial 'S' on a leaf from an Antiphonal on vellum, Pisa, c.1340-50 A colourful portrayal of the suffering of Job, contrasted by marginal illuminations evoking Classical figures and secular music, illuminated by a Pisan artist historically associated with the celebrated painter Francesco Traini 622 x 450mm. The initial ‘S’ with a sore-covered, suffering Job, opening the Historia de Job for Summer Sundays, 'Si bona suscepimus de manu domini', 5 lines of text and music on 4-line staves in red, ruled space: 445 x 300 mm., rubrics in red, a tall initial ‘A’ in red with refined blue and red penwork, Roman numerals 'I' in right margin and faint 'XIII' on top flap, with later pagination '25' and '26' (recto/verso) in ink. Mounted and framed. Provenance: Previously unknown and apparently unpublished, this leaf belongs to a dismembered Antiphonal made for the church of San Francesco in Pisa. A handful of sister leaves are found in European collections, some dispersed from the Toscanelli collection in Florence in 1883, including a sister leaf with the Coronation of St Louis of Toulouse in an initial ‘E’ in La Spezia (see Sister leaves). A sister leaf with St Peter and an Apostle in an initial ‘E’ and similar bearded human-hybrids in the margins surfaced in London in 1990. Six complete choirbooks originally from San Francesco survive at the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo (Cor. A, B, D, E, and F). One Antiphonal (presumed to be Cor. C from this group) with miniatures attributed to the Secondo Maestro del Breviario Strozzi 11 survives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Lehigh University, Cod. 25). Twelve related leaves from the same series of choirbooks, with three leaves attributed to our artist by De Benedictis, are in Oxford (Bodleian Library, MS Don. a. 11). Sister leaves: 1. Coronation of St. Louis of Toulouse, initial ‘E,’ (La Spezia, Museo Civico Amedeo Lia formerly Toscanelli Collection, Pisa, sold 1883, and Amati Collection, London, sold 1980; see C. De Benedictis 1996). 2. St Peter and an Apostle, initial ‘E’ (formerly London, Sotheby’s, 19 June 1990, lot 34). 3. Two Martyrs (London, Wallace Collection, MS 346). Illumination: Linked to a group of artists in Pisa historically associated with the celebrated painter Francesco Traini the artist has been named the Secondo Maestro del Breviario Strozzi 11 for contributions to a Breviary made in Florence in 1326 (Biblioteca Laurenziana, MS Strozzi 11). The artistic personalities associated with this illuminated Breviary were discussed in 1965 by Millard Meiss, who grouped them 'in the shadow of Traini.' The attribution to the Secondo Maestro del Breviario Strozzi 11 and the most comprehensive study of the parent Antiphonal is published by Cristina De Benedictis (1979, 1996). The group of artists was studied more recently by Francesca Pasut, who proposed joining the artistic personality of the Secondo Maestro del Breviario Strozzi 11 to that of the Secondo Maestro dell’officina miniatoria trainesca and also the Master of Pisa, Bibl. Capitolare Cor. E.8 (2010, pp. 67-68), imparting a substantial body of work to our anonymous artist’s hand, including a copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy in Berlin (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS Ham. 203). Our artist’s delightful and inventive borders compare to a celebrated copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy by a contemporary illuminator (Rome, Vatican City, BAV Vat. lat. 3199). Fantastic human-hybrid figures with bearded faces inhabit the margins, on the left with a column figure set inside the scrolling bar motif with three bearded faces atop its torso, and at the lower right a musician playing two kettle drums slung around his hips with two bearded faces below the waist spewing foliates (one defaced). Confined to the margins, this rare depiction of kettle drums (also called nakers or naccheroni in Italian) vividly evokes the secular music of Italian courts and city stree