auction

A collection of rare, illuminated manuscripts from the Medieval and Renaissance eras owned by the late New York philanthropists Elaine and Alexander Rosenberg will go under the hammer at Christie’s in a live auction on April 23^rd in New York. The collection comprises seventeen illuminated manuscripts and more than two hundred printed books from the Renaissance. The full collection is expected to sell for $8 million.

“This ranks among the best collections of illuminated manuscripts in private hands at the moment to be offered at auction in the last 50 years,” – Eugenio Donadoni, Christie’s senior specialist of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.

The 17 illuminated manuscripts offered for sale are exquisite examples of 15th- and 16th-century European manuscript painting and are the work of some of the most sought-after and accomplished artists of the French Renaissance: the Bedford Master, the Master of the Paris Bartholomaeus Anglicus, the Master of Jacques de Besançon, and the Master of Jean de Mauléon. Each manuscript contains a gallery of miniature paintings and illuminations.

Interestingly, these illuminated manuscripts were not meant for religious use but instead were created for their lay owners to admire. As a result, the manuscripts are varied and even personalized according to the tastes of their owners.

So many volumes in this collection are still in their original 15th-century bindings, often decorated with specific techniques that can be traced to workshops in both Germany and across the Alps.

Among the printed Renaissance books is an extremely rare first-edition Plato translated by scholar Marsilio Ficino and printed by the nuns of San Jacopo di Ripoli in 1484–85. It is valued at an estimate of $200,000–$400,000.

All proceeds of the sale will benefit designated museums for the support of their rare book departments.

Source: New York Philanthropists’ $8 M. Rare Books Collection Heads to Auction

Source: Christie’s to Offer Illuminated Manuscripts and Early Books from the Rosenberg Collection

Source: Illuminated Manuscripts and Early Printed Books from the Collection of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg