This is a long-lost and hitherto unrecorded leaf from an opulently decorated and early Italian Missal. Only a handful of other leaves are known, including two leaves once in the collection of Bernard H. Breslauer in New York and a leaf offered by Les Enluminures, Illuminations, cat.1, 1992, no. 4, all now in the McCarthy Collection (see below) and a further leaf sold in Koller, Zürich, 18 September 2015, lot 109, formerly in the collection of Friedrich G. Zeileis, Austria.
Gaudenz Freuler in his recent catalogue entry for the leaves in the McCarthy Collection, states that they are from “a highly elegant Missal that must once have belonged to an important religious institution”. He also notes that the artist has close stylistic connections to the Master of the Assisi Choirbooks, one of the most refined illuminators active in Umbria at the end of the 13th century who “embodies a synthesis of Roman painting and the work of the Master of the Deruta Missal together with the more advanced tendencies derived from Cimabue.” He concludes, “whether our illuminator was a Roman artist active in Umbria or was in fact Umbrian cannot be established but the close ties to the Master of the Assisi Choirbooks, not merely in the figure style but also in the colour palette, with a clear predilection for blue tones, distinctly anchor his activity in Umbria”.
Gaudenz Freuler, The McCarthy Collection I, Italian and Byzantine Miniatures (2018), no. 47, pp. 149-153. Wieck and Voelkle, Bernard Breslauer Collection, 1992, nos. 58-9.