© British Library
Calendar leaf from the Sforza Hours
Artist: Giovan Pietro Birago (circa 1450 - 1513)
Location: British Library
Date: circa 1490
Materials: tempera & gold on parchment
Dimensions: 11 x 9cm
Grant:
Amount Paid: £131,000 (Total: £191,000)
Vendor: Les Enluminures Ltd
Review number: 5407 (2004)
Provenance:
Commissioned by Bona Sforza, the widow of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan; stolen from artist by Fra Gian Jacopo; Giovanni Maria Sforzino; probably passed from the Marchese Girolamo d'Adda of Milan to Charles Fairfax Murray by 1902; probably to Tammaro de Marinis by 1908, de Marinis owned it in 1960; Bernard H Breslauer, New York, 1984; Dr Sandra Hindman, Les Enluminures Ltd, Chicago.
Description:
The calendar leaf is one of only three surviving leaves stolen from Birago's workshop before the manuscript had been bound into the book in the 1490s. The peasants in the background are occupied with wine-making while the nobles in the foreground are hunting, representing October. The rest of the Sforza Hours together with the other two stolen leaves are already in the British Library collection.
There are no comments on this artwork
To add comments please login or register.
The Art Fund may edit your comments and not all comments will be published. The Art Fund cannot be help responsible for views expressed by visitors of this website.