Historiated initial M, St Giustina disputing with Maximian, from an Antiphonary, signed "Ieronimus" (Girolamo da Cremona), Padua, c.1461 (before 1462).

Historiated initial with St Giustina of Padua disputing with the Emperor Maximian.
The scene is enclosed within a letter 'M,' of high quality ultramarine blue with brazen bands and bases, which delimits the pictorial space. The field outside the letter is covered in gold leaf. The central part of the letter takes the form of a fluted column with a composite capital. The artist's signature is inscribed on the base of the column: IERONIMUS F(ECIT) (meaning 'Jerome made [this]').
The scene is set in a portico with a coffered ceiling supported by two rows of five marble columns with brazen capitals. The young saint Giustina stands on the left, with her blonde hair worn braided round her head, dressed in a pleated crimson dress with green sleeves and holding a martyr's palm, accompanied by an older woman in a blue dress with green mantle, with her hands clasped in an attitude of prayer. Behind them is visible the tall blue soft hat of a figure otherwise obscured by the female figures, who are guarded by soldiers in plate armour. Emperor Maximian stands on the right, bearded and wearing a long blue pleated robe over green sleeves, and a tall peaked, fur-lined hat, covering his neck and with a turned-up brim at the front. surmounted by a triple tiara. He is accompanied by an older man with a long white beard, wearing a crimson pleated gown, fur-lined, and a blue cap. Behind them are visible the tall head-gear and the tops of the heads of three more court dignitaries. In the middle-distance, a group of younger male civilians witness the scene; they are dressed in contemporary Italian costume, and include a falconer wearing parti-coloured hose. In the distance is a gallery supported by columns, filled with female spectators, and on right and left are flanking buildings with prominent chimney stacks.
Ends of three red lines for music visible to the right of the initial (each 16mm apart).
Other side not visible. Mounted onto card.

From an Antiphonary made for the convent of Santa Giustina in Padua before 1462. This terminus ante quem is determined by the fact that the composition of some of the initials in this manuscript were repeated in a Gradual made for San Benedetto in Polirone (100 km from Padua) and dated 1462 (now Colchester, Castle Museum, ms. 221.32).
J.T. Payne sale, Sotheby's London, 10 April 1878, lot 115; Quaritch catalogue 332, November 1880. Purchased from Charles Fairfax Murray in 1894 as part of a group of cuttings (now Museum nos 799-1894 to 817-1894) for the total sum of £190 10s 10d. This cutting would appear to have been purchased for £100, but this price has recently been questioned and could have been meant to be 100 Italian lire (see Kidd 2020).
A duplicate number MS.1184 was assigned to this object in error and was subsequently cancelled.
Cuttings from the same manuscript in other collections: Paris, Musée Marmottan, Wildenstein 64; Chantilly, Musée Condé, Divers IV - 343.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages miniature painting became a separate activity within the book trade. A number of the miniature painters who illuminated choirbooks and liturgical manuscripts in Italy can be identified by name. This miniature of St Giustina disputing with grammarians and rhetoricians before the Emperor Maximian was painted by the illuminator Girolamo da Cremona. He signed it 'Ieronimus f[ecit]' at the base of the fluted column. The carefully painted receding pillars, the coffered ceiling, the contrapposto pose of the green figure and the acanthus scrolls of the letter shape all show the artist's familiarity with the conventions of the best contemporary painting.

This beautiful initial was identified in the Burlington Fine Arts Club exhibition of 1908 and in the museum's catalogues (1908 and 1923) as 'St Catherine of Alexandria disputing with the grammarians and rhetoricians before the Emperor Maxentius', attributed to Girolamo dai Libri and dated ca.1500. Today, it is generally believed to represent St Giustina of Padua disputing with the Emperor Maximian, and to have been painted by Girolamo di Giovanni Corradi da Cremona (son of a miniaturist active in the Gonzaga court) around 1461 for the convent of Santa Giustina in Padua.

817-1894