Attributed to the MASTER of Philippe de LEVIS, active 1533-1 - Lot 1

Attributed to the MASTER of Philippe de LEVIS, active 1533-1536 [Antoine OLIVIER, documented in Toulouse from 1510 to 1537 ? // Pieter GHERARDT, Dutch artist trained in Italy, active in Toulouse 1531-1534 ?] Saint John the Evangelist holding his attributes, the poisoned cup and a book Historicized U/V lettering, taken from a choir book (antiphonary or more likely gradual) Tempera and liquid gold, on parchment Southern France, Toulouse or Mirepoix, 1530s Dimensions: 205 x 185 mm Good condition. Verso, notated music (square notation) on musical staves drawn in red (4 lines), text beginning: "[...] dei gratiam...". Elegant historiated lettrine depicting Saint John the Evangelist carrying his poisoned cup and a book, seated in a setting of ancient ruins with marble columns, against a bluish night landscape. It reveals an obvious knowledge of Raphaelesque inventions and an Italianate culture. This illumination is to be compared with the initials attributed to a much-discussed artist, whose identification has yet to be confirmed with certainty. His conventional name, "Maître de Philippe de Lévis-Mirepoix", is given after his main patron, Philippe de Lévis, bishop of Mirepoix (Ariège) (1466-1537). The artist painted a number of large, high-quality historiated initials for two antiphonaries for use in the cathedral of Saint-Maurice de Mirepoix, preserved in Foix, Médiathèque de l'agglomération de Foix-Varilhes, MS. 47 and MS. 48 (no historiated initials remain in the volumes), and the initials include dates from 1533 to 1535, as well as the bishop's coat of arms. These "antiphonaries", which are in fact graduals (As-Vijvers, 2014 and Elsig, 2020), were extensively mutilated (during the Revolution? before?) and the initials identified as coming from these manuscripts were listed by Cordellier, 2011, cat. 134 and studied when the initial depicting the Baptism of Christ was acquired in 2001 (Galerie Les Enluminures, 2001, cat. 10, no. 14 (assigned to an Italian painter), then Paris, Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des dessins, RF 52752). F. Elsig's recent clarifying note now lists fourteen (Elsig, 2020): since the contributions of Bayle (2003), Blondeau (2013), Cohendy (2018), Elsig points to two other miniatures that have appeared on the market, namely an initial N with Crucifixion (Galerie Les Enluminures, then Toulouse, Musée des Augustins) and Toussaint (Tuliba Manuscripts (Hilversum), see As-Vijvers, 2014, no. 26: "All Saints: historiated initial from the Gradual of Philippe de Lévis"). The other historiated initials are in Toulouse, Musée des Augustins; Paris, Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des dessins; Écouen, Musée de la Renaissance (see Hindman/Bergeron-Foote, 2010, no. 37); Private collections). In 2003, J. Bayle devoted an important study to the liturgical manuscripts commissioned by Philippe de Lévis: "Today, the municipal library of Foix possesses two volumes of antiphonaries (mss 47 and 48), a psalter (ms 56), the four volumes of the breviary or proper of the time (mss 52 to 55), all of which belonged to Philippe de Lévis and were marked with his coat of arms" (Bayle, 2003, p. 162). These antiphonaries were among the many manuscripts commissioned by the bishop, as witnesses from the generation following Philippe de Lévis' episcopate recall: "During the trial between the Lord of Mirepoix, nephew and heir of Bishop Philippe de Lévis, and David Beaton and then Claude de Guiche, Philippe's successors to the bishopric of Mirepoix, In 1541, Philippe III mentions "several beautiful and large cuer books, both for saying masses and for singing and performing other services, illuminated in gold and azure and histories, all the beginnings of the masses and services in gold and azure, which luy have sewn a marvelous silver for the prolexity of the workers" (Bayle, 2003, p. 165). Bayle would identify the artist of these antiphonaries with Servais CORNOUALLE (or CORNOUAILLE?), documented in Toulouse from 1536 to 1566, originally from Picardy, who illustrates certain Annales de Toulouse (Toulouse, Archives municipales, for example in 1544 and 1561; see C. Cau, Les Capitouls de Toulouse, Toulouse, 1990). This identification has since been disputed (Cordellier, 2011, p. 254; Elsig, 2020, p. 189). Provenance: Private collection, Normandy Experts: Cabinet de BAYSER / Madame Ariane ADELINE L'OEUVRE EST VISIBLE à PARIS dans les salons du cabinet de BAYSER DETAILED DESCRIPTION AVAILABLE IN THE FILE BELOW THE ESTIMATE