Two martyred Saints, perhaps Sts Justa and Rufina, historiated initial 'P' cut from a choirbook on vellum [Florence or Siena, c.1495-1500]

A charming initial with bright, bold colours, illuminated by the Florentine artist Littifredi di Corbizzi.

85 x 79mm. (Some creasing and rubbing to burnished gold, minor loss of pigment to foliage). The female Saints are holding martyrs' palms and incense pots, attributes which are also associated with the Spanish Saints Justa and Rufina, martyred in Seville in the third century.

This initial has been attributed by Gaudenz Freuler to the Florentine illuminator Littifredi di Corbizzi, active in Siena from 1494-1515. The artist signed two of his surviving miniatures with his name 'Litti Florentie' (Manchester, Univ. Lib., MS 14n.II., f.10r) and 'Hoc Littes Philippi de Corbizis pinsit hoc opus An. Domini 1494' (Siena, Bibl. Com., MS X.V.III, f.50r). Influenced by Attavante degli Attavanti and Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni del Fora, his style is characterised by figures with elongated heads, strong, finely delineated features, and robes heightened by fine wisps of gold. The present initial likely belonged to the same parent manuscript as another cutting with various Martyr Saints in a private collection (see G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, 2012, II, no 102), and an initial 'C' with the Virgin and the Apostles offered at Sotheby's, 8 December 2015, lot 19.

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