Don Simone Camaldolese (active 1378-1405)
NATIVITY, in an initial H cut from an antiphonal [Florence, 1400]
This splendid initial is a fine example of the late style of Don Simone Camaldolese, one of the leading illuminators in Florence in the final decades of the 14th century.

Although he was originally from Siena – and his earliest works show the clear influence of Sienese artists of the preceding generation – an unusual number of signed, documented or dated works attributable to him have survived and chart his career between 1379 and 1398 illuminating manuscripts for various Florentine monasteries and churches. The contained simplicity of his forms and the weighty immobility of his figures, evident in this initial, distinguish his style from that of his fellow Camaldolese illuminators, Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci and Lorenzo Monaco, who were resident in S. Maria degli Angeli, an important centre of manuscript production in Florence. Notwithstanding these differences in style it has been suggested that Lorenzo Monaco's early training may have been with Don Simone. L. Kanter in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300-1450, 1994, pp. 187-217.

Provenance:
•Christie’s, London, 4 June 2003, lot 6, where acquired by present owner.

235 x 205mm. The initial 'H' opens the responsory 'Hodie nobis celorum rex' for Matins on Christmas Day, on the reverse three lines of text and music and a large blue initial flourished in red. Cut-to-shape, mounted and framed.

Please note this lot is the property of a private consignor.

Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.