Les Enluminures
The Olivetan Gradual: Its Place in 15th-century Lombard Manuscript Illumination
64 pages, paperback, 280 x 240 mm, 50 colour illustrations
PRICE: £15.00
ISBN: 978 1 903470 879
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By Milvia Bollati
This illuminated manuscript, a gradual of large size which the whole congregation of monks could see and read as they sang in choir (just as they are shown doing in an illustration in the manuscript itself), was previously unknown to scholars and has only recently come to light. It was clearly produced for a monastery of the Olivetan order, a branch of the Benedictines with a particular reverence for the Virgin Mary – probably Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan.
It contains fine miniatures which can be attributed to Girolamo da Milano (died 1449), otherwise known as the 'Olivetan Master'. Indeed the manuscript sheds considerable light on the oeuvre and style of this master, otherwise a shadowy figure known chiefly for illuminations on detached leaves or cuttings. This important new discovery is discussed by the Italian scholar Milvia Bollati, who uses it to throw further light on Girolamo, on the Olivetans and on manuscript illumination in the period between late ('International') Gothic and Early Renaissance.
In association with Sam Fogg and Les Enluminures
Toward an Art History of Medieval Rings gives a full survey of Merovingian, Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance rings, building on the basis of a private collection of 35 rings assembled over nearly two decades. These rings range in date from around 300 to 1600 AD and are fine examples of most of the major types of ring created during this period. They include marriage rings, seal rings, stirrup rings, tart mould rings, iconographic rings, merchant rings and gemstone rings and are arranged chronologically. More
