DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22423#0114
102
OXFORD—BODLEIAN.
Letter XXIV.
brocade, who, though not very individual in feature, is the lady for
whom the MS. was executed. In the corners are four coats of arms,
two of them united and supported below by one angel. The one
contains, in two compartments, two golden lions upon a gold
ground, the other ten silver lozenges upon a red ground. On the
page opposite are four girls kneeling, attired like the lady, with
three of the same coats of arms and two other coats. To these suc-
ceed a number of saints within initials, peculiarly formed of dra-
gons and other animals. Towards the end is the Crucifixion,
quite of an ideal tendency, with a feature new to me, viz. a
crowned woman riding on a lion with a cross-shaped staff, receiving
the blood of Christ in a chalice. On the following page is the
Virgin, of intense expression, and by a far better hand. Below a
rich and stately tournament by the same. The subjects of the
border opposite are also as rich as they are attractive.
A Prayer-Book of Bona Sforza, daughter of Giovanni Galeazzo,
Duke of Milan, and wife of Sigismund, King of Poland (Douce,
No. 40), duodecimo, 258 leaves, with a beautiful and pure Roman
text. The calendar only contains the unmeaning signs of the
zodiac. P. 39 b exhibits the rich and superbly painted arms of
the Sforza family and of the kingdom of Poland; the date
mdxxvj i., and S. C. f. ; whence it appears that the completion of
this work took place in the ninth year of her marriage. There is
no doubt that the letters S. C. are the initials of the artist; though
it would be difficult to trace the name they indicate, yet it is
obvious that he was a German, and of that admirable school of
miniature-painting formed by the family of Glockendon, in Nu-
remberg. For this work agrees so entirely in every respect with the
authentic specimens of the Glockendon family—for instance, with
the Missal of the year 1521, and the Prayer-Book of the year
1531, which Nicholas Glockendon executed for A1 bred it, Arch-
bishop of Mayence, and which is now in the Royal Library at
Aschaffenburg*—that but for those initials I should not hesitate
to ascribe this work to that artist. Both the text and the richly-
decorated borders, partly in the Italian taste, and partly in the
Netherlandish, with the Visconti arms adopted by the Sforzas
frequently introduced, lead me to conclude that these portions
were executed in Milan, and then sent, for the purpose of intro-
* See critical description in my Kuntswerke und Kiinstler in Deutschland, vol. i.
p. 382.
OXFORD—BODLEIAN.
Letter XXIV.
brocade, who, though not very individual in feature, is the lady for
whom the MS. was executed. In the corners are four coats of arms,
two of them united and supported below by one angel. The one
contains, in two compartments, two golden lions upon a gold
ground, the other ten silver lozenges upon a red ground. On the
page opposite are four girls kneeling, attired like the lady, with
three of the same coats of arms and two other coats. To these suc-
ceed a number of saints within initials, peculiarly formed of dra-
gons and other animals. Towards the end is the Crucifixion,
quite of an ideal tendency, with a feature new to me, viz. a
crowned woman riding on a lion with a cross-shaped staff, receiving
the blood of Christ in a chalice. On the following page is the
Virgin, of intense expression, and by a far better hand. Below a
rich and stately tournament by the same. The subjects of the
border opposite are also as rich as they are attractive.
A Prayer-Book of Bona Sforza, daughter of Giovanni Galeazzo,
Duke of Milan, and wife of Sigismund, King of Poland (Douce,
No. 40), duodecimo, 258 leaves, with a beautiful and pure Roman
text. The calendar only contains the unmeaning signs of the
zodiac. P. 39 b exhibits the rich and superbly painted arms of
the Sforza family and of the kingdom of Poland; the date
mdxxvj i., and S. C. f. ; whence it appears that the completion of
this work took place in the ninth year of her marriage. There is
no doubt that the letters S. C. are the initials of the artist; though
it would be difficult to trace the name they indicate, yet it is
obvious that he was a German, and of that admirable school of
miniature-painting formed by the family of Glockendon, in Nu-
remberg. For this work agrees so entirely in every respect with the
authentic specimens of the Glockendon family—for instance, with
the Missal of the year 1521, and the Prayer-Book of the year
1531, which Nicholas Glockendon executed for A1 bred it, Arch-
bishop of Mayence, and which is now in the Royal Library at
Aschaffenburg*—that but for those initials I should not hesitate
to ascribe this work to that artist. Both the text and the richly-
decorated borders, partly in the Italian taste, and partly in the
Netherlandish, with the Visconti arms adopted by the Sforzas
frequently introduced, lead me to conclude that these portions
were executed in Milan, and then sent, for the purpose of intro-
* See critical description in my Kuntswerke und Kiinstler in Deutschland, vol. i.
p. 382.