Full-page illuminated folio from a Book of Hours with gold h - Lot 12

Full-page illuminated folio from a Book of Hours with gold highlights on vellum depicting the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, with inscription on the canopy in Gothic letters Veni, amica mea / coronab[eris] (Come, my friend / you will be crowned); flower sowing on yellow background in the margin. Bruges, attributed to Willem Vrelant (active in Utrecht, c. 1449 - Bruges, 1481), circa 1460/1470 Height: 12.4 cm Width: 7.9 cm Handwritten inscription on back In a Renaissance-style frame (margin cut, slight wear) Flemish painter Willem Vrelant was one of the most prolific, influential and successful illuminators in Bruges during the third quarter of the 15th century. Originally from Utrecht, he settled in the city before 1454, when he is mentioned as an active member of the Guild of St. John the Evangelist, which brought together illuminators, scribes, parchment makers and other book craftsmen. A receipt of payment attests that in 1468, Vrelant illuminated a sumptuous historical manuscript for Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. He also produced numerous manuscripts for export and worked for other renowned patrons, including Louis de Gruuthuse, Antoine de Bourgogne and Queen Elizabeth of Aragon. The 1460s/1470s were marked by the extensive use of grisaille by Flemish illuminators. This miniature is characterized by the combination of grisaille and polychrome within the same scene - a combination found in several books of Hours illuminated by Vrelant, but generally distributed between separate miniatures. According to Bernard Bousmanne, only two manuscripts illuminated by Vrelant feature miniatures combining polychrome and grisaille like this one, one in Liverpool's Merseyside Museum (ms 12006), the other in Rome's Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Barb. lat. 381). The style of this illumination is comparable to that of the miniatures adorning the Livre d'Heures à l'usage de Rome in the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique (Brussels, KBR, ms. IV 145) and a Livre d'Heures sold at Christie's in 2021 (Paris sale, Christie's, November 22, 2021, lot no. 1), both dated around 1470. It corresponds to Vrelant's Bruges period, when his work reached full maturity. It contains the most representative features of his production. The hands, for example, are sketchily drawn, with the fingers glued together and barely outlined. The Virgin also displays the distinctive features of Vrelant's female characters: long blond hair, an oval face with little expression, where skin tones are enhanced by pink hues and pen-and-ink strokes. Lastly, the architectural decoration can be found in numerous miniatures attributed to Vrelant, with a blue starry vault whose keystone and edges are highlighted in gold. These characteristics can be found in the Arenberg Hours dated to the early 1460s (Los Angeles, The Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 8, fol. 45, 84 and 179), as well as in the manuscript of La fleur des histoires preserved in Geneva and dated to around 1480 (Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 64, fol. 56r, 88r, 90r, 119r & 301r). Works consulted: - B. Bousmanne, Item à Guillaume Wyelant aussi enlumineur : Willem Vrelant, un aspect de l'enluminure dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux sous le mécénat des ducs de Bourgogne Philippe le Bon et Charles le Téméraire, Brussels, 1997. - T. Delcourt (ed.), Miniatures flamandes 1404-1482, 2012, p. 238-255 LF