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[ST APOLLONIA WITH HER TONGS, ON A CUTTING FROM A CHOIRBOOK]

Rectangular cutting with a historiated initial, cut from an illuminated manuscript choirbook, on vellum

[Italy (perhaps Verona)
c. 1490s.]

€1.500 - €2.500

Cutting, trimmed to edges of the decoration, with an initial 'O' in sprays of blue, green and red acanthus leaves, these heightened with white brushwork, the saint half-length in coloured robes and holding her tongs (her attribute, noting her brutal torture in which her teeth were pulled out) as her hair cascades over her shoulders and she dispassionately gazes to the viewer's right, all set on a pale blue sky, the whole initial on burnished gold ground, reverse apparently blank (cutting pasted down to red velvet mount), some cracking to gold, small chips and scuffs, overall in presentable condition, 155 by 180mm.; in old glass and metal frame

Painted by a follower of Girolamo dai Libri (1475-c.1555), who along with his father, Francesco dai Libri (c. 1452-1505), and grandfather, Stefano dai Libri (1433-1475), dominated illumination in Verona for nearly a century. The soft modelling of the structures of the face and especially the neck, and the slight angling downwards of the face here, follow the style of the early years of dai Libri's career, suggesting a date in the 1490s

Manuscripts