Saints Florentinus and Leonard (2)

SAINTS FLORENTINUS AND LEONARD, two miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin [France, Brittany or perhaps Normandy, c.1430-40]

Two colourful miniatures illuminated in an engaging and rustic style depicting St Leonard raising the chains of two kneeling prisoners, set against a dramatic background, and St Florentinus, holding his book and episcopal crozier.

c.195 x 140mm. 2 large miniatures on recto and verso with the text for the suffrages to Sts Florentinus and Leonard (loss of pigment to the face of St Leonard, margins cropped, a few smudges). Mounted and in a double-sided frame. Provenance: This leaf is from a gathering of 8 leaves, foliated 304-311, containing 11 suffrages to saints, each with a miniature, sold at Sotheby's, 29 November 1990, lot 33. It was bought by Maggs, and leaves appeared in their European Bulletin 18 (1993), no 5 (St Nicholas, St Sebastian), and Catalogue 1167 [1994] nos 31A (St Florentinus, St Leonard), 31B (St Eligius).

The style of illumination suggests that the manuscript was painted in north-west France, probably Brittany, where Rennes was a major centre of book illumination. Another possibility may be Normandy, perhaps Caen.

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