DAVID IN PRAYER, historiated initial 'B' on a leaf from an illuminated Ferial Psalter on vellum [Italy, probably Brescia, c.1490]

A sensitive evocation of an intimate scene by the talented Lombard frescoist Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo.

490 x 380mm. Historiated initial 'B' opening 'Beatus vir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum', the first Psalm to be read from the Ferial Psalter in the weekly services of the Church, 14 lines of text, verso with 5 penwork intials in blue or red (vellum repair to lower and outer margin, some darkening and cockling, small hole to lower left margin, initial a little creased, with a small crease touching David's head, some losses to the gold). Mounted. Provenance: Les Enluminures, 'Colourful', cat.12 (2005), p.71, no 32.

The miniature has been attributed to Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo, active in Lombardy from 1474-1507, and better known until recently as a talented painter of murals, among which his dated frescoes in the Augustinian church of San Barnaba in Brescia. His work clearly reveals the influence of Paduan classicism, along with early 'Leonardesque' currents emanating from Milanese late quattrocento painters and the humanist influences of Vincenzo Foppa. A small oeuvre of works has been attributed to him by Mario Marubbi and others (M. Marubbi, 'Giovan Pietro da Cemmo miniatore', Arte Lombarda, 101, 1992, pp.7-31).

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