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The Virgin and Child

Manuscript Cutting
1460-1480 (made)
Artist/Maker
Franco Di Giovanni De' Russi (illuminator)
Place of origin
Ferrara (made)
Urbino (made)
Italy (made)

Historiated initial B (red and green foliate letter-shape, Virgin and Child seated in a landscape, with a distant town, burnished gold ground); above the letter-shape a putto holding a red shield lettered "M FRANCHO", ie Franco dei Russi.

Object details

Categories
Paintings
Drawings
Manuscripts
Christianity
Religion
Object type
manuscript cutting
TitleThe Virgin and Child (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum
Watercolour
Vellum
Painting
Illumination
Brief description
Historiated initial B showing the Virgin and Child seated among the rocks, by Franco di Giovanni de' Russi, from an illuminated manuscript, Ferrara or Urbino, 1460-1480.
Physical description
Historiated initial B (red and green foliate letter-shape, Virgin and Child seated in a landscape, with a distant town, burnished gold ground); above the letter-shape a putto holding a red shield lettered "M FRANCHO", ie Franco dei Russi.
Dimensions
  • Irregular height: 7cm
  • Width: 6.3cm
The top left portion containing the putto and shield forms a small extension to the top edge
Production typeunique
Marks and inscriptions
M. Francho (1) Signature; top left; gilt)
Object history
Bought at Sotheby's London, 29 November 1990, lot 22.
Historical context
This is one of only two signed works by this artist; the other is in a manuscript in the British Library. Franco de' Russi studied at Ferrara under Gugliemo Giraldi and was a follower of Mantegna. With Taddeo Crivelli he was one of the two principal artists commissioned to illuminate the great Bible of Borso d'Este in Ferrara, 1455-1461, but had apparently left Ferrara by 1458 where he is documented as working in Urbino for Federico da Montefeltro, described as `maestro Franco de Ferrara.' He also worked in Padua in the 1460s where he illuminated two manuscripts copied by Bartolomeo Sanvito. On Federico's death in 1482 he moved to Venice.
Subjects depicted
Historiated Initial
The Virgin Mary
The Christ Child
Bibliographic references
  • D'Ancona, P. and Aeschlimann, E., Dictionnaire des miniaturistes du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance dans les différentes contrées de l'Europe, Milan: U. Hoepli, 1949. pp.187-8 and plate opposite.
  • Levi d'Ancona, M., 'Contributi al problema di Franco dei Russi', in Commentari, XI (1960), pl. XII, fig. 4.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1991
  • Alexander, J.J.G. (ed.),The Painted Page. Italian Renaissance Book Illumination (1450-1550), exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts 27 October 1994 - 22 January 1995, Munich - New York, 1994. p. 84.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1275-1991

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Record createdNovember 29, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O49827/the-virgin-and-child-manuscript-cutting-franco-di-giovanni/
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