Christie’s is proud to present a pioneering collaboration with Sandra Hindman, Professor Emerita of Art History at Northwestern University, founder of Les Enluminures, and one of the leading specialists in the history of manuscript illumination. Curated by her, the present selection of illuminations from her collection reflects her long-standing interests and draws on some of her scholarship. Sister leaves and parent manuscripts are identified whenever possible. Dr Hindman’s scholarly publications on single leaves and cuttings have set a standard for the study of this genre, beginning with the catalogue of the northern manuscript paintings in the Robert Lehman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which situated illuminations in their larger context relative to other leaves and fragments from the same ‘parent’ manuscript. This was followed by Manuscript Illumination in the Modern Age:  Recovery and Reconstruction, which delved into the prehistory of the appreciation and collecting of manuscript paintings in the modern era, addressing many questions that had previously gone unanswered. Today, Dr Hindman is author and co-editor of a magnificent catalogue of one of the most important private collections of Italian illuminations, The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Paintings, on deposit at Stanford University Library. It is entirely fitting that this sale takes place at Christie’s, which held the first-ever public auction of manuscript illuminations nearly two centuries ago on 26 May 1825: called ‘illumined miniature paintings’ the 200 lots were described as ‘monuments of a lost Art.’  Our title pays tribute to this landmark sale.

Sandra Hindman and Christie’s would like to thank the following for their help and expertise: Elliot Adam, François Avril, Milvia Bollati, Gaudenz Freuler, Elena De Laurentiis, Peter Kidd, Francesca Manzari, James Marrow, Federica Toniolo and Matthew Westerby.

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