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Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Copy of an illuminated initial and ornamental border

Facsimile
ca. 1861-1862 (made)
Artist/Maker
Ernesto Sprega (maker)
Place of origin
Italy (made)

General Description: c.1860

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read About the Fragmented Illuminations display The secularisation of Catholic Church property that swept Europe in the late 18th and early 19th century brought numerous medieval and Renaissance books from cathedral treasuries and monastic libraries into private hands.

Object details

Category
Watercolours
Object type
Facsimile
TitleCopy of an illuminated initial and ornamental border
Materials and techniques
Watercolour and gold on vellum
Brief description
19th century copy of an illuminated initial made for the Arundel Society
Physical description
General Description: c.1860
Dimensions
  • Height: 410mm
  • Width: 300mm
  • Initial height: 230mm
  • Initial width: 195mm
Gallery label
Fragmented Illuminations: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Cuttings at the V&A, 08/09/2021 - 26/06/2022, rooms 88A-90



The Arundel Society (1848–97)

The Arundel Society, or ‘Society for Promoting the
Knowledge of Art’, contributed to the appreciation
of Italian Renaissance art in Britain. Its publications,
accessible by subscription, made use of the new
medium of chromolithography to produce lavish colour
prints. These initials and border ornament samples were
copied from choirbooks in Siena for an alphabet book
published by the Society in 1862. The copies, focusing
on the ornament, share the same aesthetic as
manuscript cuttings.



Initials ‘A’ and ‘C’ and border decoration, copied after 15th-century choirbooks illuminated by Giovanni di Paolo di Neri and Liberale da Verona

Ernesto Sprega

Siena, Italy, before 1862

Ink, gold, watercolour and bodycolour on parchment

Museum nos. E.126-1996 and 4594
Object history
Made for Count Cottrell and passed by the Arundel Society to the National Gallery in 1889 or 1895, made a gift in 1899. Lent to the V&A in 1906 and made a gift in 1996. The image was reproduced in outline as plate A in 'An Alphabet of capital letters selected from the illuminations of Italian choral books', Arundel Society, 1862, the ornament was included as part of plate I in the same publication.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.126-1996

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Record createdApril 20, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O225927/copy-of-an-illuminated-initial-facsimile-ernesto-sprega/
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