Title
Leaf, gradual, from the Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávila
Juan de Carrión [workshop of] (Documented in the last third of the 15th century)
Generic classification
Manuscripts and illuminationsObject
Page from a choir bookDate
1482-1492Century
Late 15th c.Cultural context / style
Reinado de los Reyes CatólicosTechnique
HandmadeIconography / Theme
Estigmatización de san FranciscoProvenance
Santo Tomás de Ávila Monastery (Ávila, Spain)Current location
The Morgan Library (New York, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
M. 1141Inscriptions / Marks
Initial "G" de Gaudeamus omnes in domino diem festum celebrantes sub honore beati Francisci
Verso: «[Beata viscera Mariae virginis quae por] --taverunt | [aete]rni patris - [fili]um alle-- [luia]».
Object history
The original book to which this manuscript corresponds belonged to the Dominican convent of Santo Tomás in Ávila; a foundation that enjoyed the protection of the Catholic Monarchs and the inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada, who contributed to the splendour of this monastic centre. The Catholic Monarchs endowed the monastery with magnificent goods, among which Narciso Sentenach highlighted an extraordinary choir book. This is how he described it in 1907: ‘There is no shortage of volumes and documents with miniatures from this period, but without doubt this special art form never developed greater luxury and decorative sumptuousness when it came to illustrating the great choir book that the King and Queen, its patrons and founders, dedicated to the monastery of Santo Tomás de Ávila. The fact that his beloved son Juan was buried there meant that this convent received the greatest effects of the munificence of the Monarchs, and when it came to this choir book it can well be said that no more luxurious and artistic one was ever written or illuminated’ (Sentenach, 1907).
In 1875, Isidoro Rosell y Torres, referring to the effects of the ecclesiastical confiscations, pointed out: ‘We have seen loose pages torn from their choir books, illuminated with all the taste and richness of the arts at the end of the 15th century, a living example of vandalistic plundering, a dishonourable page in a period of our history, in which neither pious respect nor artistic enthusiasm restrained the excesses of ignorance or bad faith’ (Villaseñor, 2009).
Despite such sumptuousness and appreciation, the truth is that in the 19th century the fortune of this work, as we can see, was cut short. The book was cut up in the period between the ecclesiastical confiscations and its acquisition by the Valladolid scholar, Manuel Rico y Sinobas (1819-1898), a member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, as well as a great bibliophile, who amassed an extensive collection of books and manuscripts. Once it had been cut up, fragments of it ended up scattered across different international collections. This miniature that concerns us was sold by C. G. Boerner, a firm specialising in the sale of books, in 1912; it then passed into the hands of the Prince of Liechtenstein. It was later acquired by the book firm H. P. Kraus, and then passed into the hands of the Sam Fogg label, specialised in antique books and manuscripts. The scholar Jonathan J. G. Alexander bought it in 1990 and it was he who donated it in 2004 to The Morgan Library & Museums where it is currently preserved.
Other fragments are kept at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge: those corresponding to some pages with initials and the representation, respectively, of Justice (Justicia) and Hope (Esperanza). Three leaves relating to liturgical chant and two with historiated initials of Charity and Prudence ended up in the National Archaeological Museum (Villaseñor, 2009). And these are just a few examples of the dispersion suffered by such a remarkable manuscript treasure bequeathed to the convent of Santo Tomás in Ávila by the Catholic Monarchs.
Description
The initial G (355 x 325 mm) is adorned with pink and green foliage, the background is gold and features a variety of plant decorations, including some fruits. The margin is decorated with various foliaceous and floral ornaments, as well as a coat of arms relating to Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabella of Castile (1451-1504).
The choir book leaf appears to illustrate a communion fragment for a mass dedicated to the Virgin, probably for the Nativity.
Locations
Unknown date
Unknown date
private collection
Manuel Rico y Sinobas, Madrid (Spain) *
1912
dealer/antiquarian
C. G. Boerner, Leipzig / Düsseldorf (Germany) *
1912
private collection
Johannes II von Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein) *
1990
dealer/antiquarian
Sam Fogg, London (United Kingdom) *
1990 - 2004
private collection
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, New York (United States) *
2004 - present
Bibliography
- BOSCH, Lynette M. (1991): "Los manuscritos abulenses de Juan de Carrión", vol. 64, nº 253, en Archivo Español de Arte, pp. 55-64.
- DOMÍNGUEZ BORDONA, Jesús (1930): "Las miniaturas de Juan de Carrión", vol. VI, nº 16, en Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología, pp. 17-20.
- DOMÍNGUEZ BORDONA, Jesús (1962): Miniatura. Ars Hispaniae, vol. 18, Plus-Ultra, Madrid.
- SENTENACH Y CABAÑAS, Narciso (1907): "Miniaturas notables del Museo Arqueológico Nacional", nº 15, en Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones.
- VILLASEÑOR, Fernando (2009): "Los libros de coro del Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás de Ávila", nº 180, Reales Sitios: Revista del Patrimonio Nacional, pp. 20-27, il. 12.
Record manager
María José Martínez RuizCitation:
María José Martínez Ruiz, "Leaf, gradual, from the Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávila" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/286
Leaf, gradual, from the Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávila
