Illuminated miniature of Saint Peter Apostle, cut to shape from an antiphonal. Italy (Bergamo), c. 1480- 1490
COLLABORATOR OF JACOPO DA BALSEMO
Large initial painted in pink, green and blue acanthus and enclosing the figure of St. Peter who is dressed in pink and orange robes and holds the keys in one hand and a book in the other.
Size of initial: 90 x 90mm. On verso, musical notation. 1490
This is a richly painted miniature of St. Peter Apostle of excellent quality, on an initial "N" possibly opening "Nunc scio vere" (the introitus ad missam for the feast of the apostle. The rendering of the face of saint Peter as well as the shape and colour of the letter and the foliate decoration point to a Lombard illuminator in the second half of the 15th century. More specifically the author of this cutting can be traced to the workshop of Jacopo da Balsemo, the leading illuminator in Bergamo in the 15th century where he was responsible for several commissions from the cycle of choir books for Santa Maggiore begun in 1449, to two volumes of the official statutes of the city made in 1453 and 1491. Towards the end of this period he was responsible for illuminating five antiphonaries for the cathedral now in the Bibliotheca Angelo Mai in Bergamo (cfr. Chiara Maggioni's article on Jacopo da Balsemo in Dizionaro Biografico dei miniatori italiani secoli IX - XVI, ed. Milvia Bollati, Milan 2004, pp. 346-348).
One can compare the face of saint Peter to that of saint Benedict in the Breviarium made for the monastery of Santa Grata in Bergamo in 1474 and with the Saint Antonio Abate in the Corale A from Santa Maria Maggiore. The short leaves which cover the initial compare well with those in the antiphonaries and in the Corale D, which was illuminated after 1479 and most probably around 1489. The marginal decoration of the opening leaf is also identical in style to the upper fragment of our cutting. While the quality of the initial is rather high, the rendering of the vest of saint Peter and of the background possibly point to thje work of a collaborator, possibly one of those active in the Corale B.
The miniature is an excellent example of illumination in Bergamo in the last two decades of the 15th century.
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