PENTECOST, a large historiated initial on one of two leaves from a Dutch Book of Hours illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg [northern Netherlands, probably Utrecht, second quarter 15th century]

An appealing example of another dominant style of illumination prevalent in the northern Netherlands in the first half of the 15th century: that of the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg, active probably in Utrecht from the 1420s to the 1440s. Influenced by Parisian illumination of the turn of the 15th century but also firmly within the Eyckian tradition, they ‘produced the most progressive pictorial illumination of their time’ (The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, p.99).

The first leaf, with the historiated initial depicting Pentecost, is f.75 from the Hours of the Holy Ghost; the second is f.84 with the opening of Prime of the Hours of the Holy Ghost.

Other leaves from this manuscript are listed in Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections, 1989, p.100.

Provenance:
- The parent manuscript was produced in the northern Netherlands in the second half of the 15th century.
- It was dispersed between 1965-9 by Folio Fine Art: their cats. 27 and 33, nos 124 and 103; and cats. 194, no 66 and 66, no 751. They described it as use of Cologne.
- The present leaves were sold at Sotheby’s, 18 June 1991, lot 31.

Measurements:
Two leaves, 148 x 110mm. 19 lines, written space: 88 x 62mm.

Bibliography:
The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, 1990, pp.97-128.

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