Years 1460-1479
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Ancient painting Christianity Madonna and Child Religious texts Books Incunabula Literature Literature in French Poems and lyrics Buddhism Flemish art Ancient England Historical arms Blade and armour
See also : Ancient painting Christianity Madonna and Child Religious texts Books Incunabula Literature Literature in French Poems and lyrics Buddhism Flemish art Ancient England Historical arms Blade and armour
1464 Gillion de Trazegnies
2012 SOLD for £ 3.85M by Sotheby's
The courtly romance was very popular in the early Middle Ages. The heroic deeds attributed to the knights during the Crusades become legends in which fantastic scenes mingle with realistic episodes. The good knight lived the most fabulous adventures for the honor of his wife.
At the end of the Hundred Years' War, the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good maintains a prestigious court and is a patron of arts and literature. The prose novel Gillion de Trazegnies, composed at that time by an anonymous writer, is an amazing example of the revival of the courtly romance, with all the features of this literary genre.
The Trazegnies family actually existed in Hainaut, and the legend of the bigamist knight was told a long time before the writing of the novel. The reader is made weeping with this story of a pilgrim to the Holy Land who becomes a prisoner, believes that his wife is dead, becomes unintentionally a bigamist and is released of this accidental sin by his chevaleresque attitude.
This novel was published last year by the medievalist Stéphanie Vincent, who had access to the five copies in illuminated manuscripts of the original edition, all made for the Duke and his entourage.
Louis de Gruuthuse, stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, was one of the five privileged who received such a copy, illuminated in 1464 with 8 large and 44 small images. Then it belonged to Francis I king of France and to the Dukes of Devonshire. It was sold for £ 3.85M by Sotheby's on December 5, 2012.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's introducing both this romance and a Mystère de la Vengeance.
At the end of the Hundred Years' War, the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good maintains a prestigious court and is a patron of arts and literature. The prose novel Gillion de Trazegnies, composed at that time by an anonymous writer, is an amazing example of the revival of the courtly romance, with all the features of this literary genre.
The Trazegnies family actually existed in Hainaut, and the legend of the bigamist knight was told a long time before the writing of the novel. The reader is made weeping with this story of a pilgrim to the Holy Land who becomes a prisoner, believes that his wife is dead, becomes unintentionally a bigamist and is released of this accidental sin by his chevaleresque attitude.
This novel was published last year by the medievalist Stéphanie Vincent, who had access to the five copies in illuminated manuscripts of the original edition, all made for the Duke and his entourage.
Louis de Gruuthuse, stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, was one of the five privileged who received such a copy, illuminated in 1464 with 8 large and 44 small images. Then it belonged to Francis I king of France and to the Dukes of Devonshire. It was sold for £ 3.85M by Sotheby's on December 5, 2012.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's introducing both this romance and a Mystère de la Vengeance.
1468 A Cassone Panel by Paolo Uccello
2020 SOLD for £ 2.4M by Sotheby's
Paolo di Dono di Paolo is a Florentine painter from the Quattrocento. Uccello, meaning the bird, is his nickname, certainly pejorative and perhaps even posthumous.
The novelty of his time is the perspective. Paolo uses this geometric effect to bring an illusion of distance in panoramic formats featuring crowds of characters and horses, all differentiated in a superb clarity. Scenes of battles in honor of the ancient Romans are very fashionable in Florentine palaces, allowing the artist to avoid the religious dominance.
The ceremonial piece of furniture is the cassone, a storage chest for the bride's personal belongings. Its panels are painted, as are the woodwork or the headboards. This use invites the theme of fertility. The culmination of this bedroom art is an oil on canvas 119 x 165 cm conceived to be transportable, the Venus of Urbino, painted by Titian in 1538.
Back to Paolo. On July 28, 2020, Sotheby's sold as lot 23 for £ 2.4M from a lower estimate of £ 600K a tempera and gold painting showing a battle scene, with tents and banners on both sides of a river. This 43 x 162 cm work on a 51 x 170 cm panel has all the characteristics of a cassone panel.
The decapitated head of the defeated general recalls the final episode of the battle of the Metaur won by the Romans against the Carthaginians. The use of perspective allows the phases of the action to be placed at apparent gradual distances with great narrative quality.
This work, which had been confiscated in 1942, resurfaced after negotiations with the spoiled heirs. Its inspection concludes as an autograph painting by Paolo Uccello. The proposed date is around 1468, about two years before another panel of the same expressive diversity, The Hunt in the Forest, 73 x 177 cm.
The novelty of his time is the perspective. Paolo uses this geometric effect to bring an illusion of distance in panoramic formats featuring crowds of characters and horses, all differentiated in a superb clarity. Scenes of battles in honor of the ancient Romans are very fashionable in Florentine palaces, allowing the artist to avoid the religious dominance.
The ceremonial piece of furniture is the cassone, a storage chest for the bride's personal belongings. Its panels are painted, as are the woodwork or the headboards. This use invites the theme of fertility. The culmination of this bedroom art is an oil on canvas 119 x 165 cm conceived to be transportable, the Venus of Urbino, painted by Titian in 1538.
Back to Paolo. On July 28, 2020, Sotheby's sold as lot 23 for £ 2.4M from a lower estimate of £ 600K a tempera and gold painting showing a battle scene, with tents and banners on both sides of a river. This 43 x 162 cm work on a 51 x 170 cm panel has all the characteristics of a cassone panel.
The decapitated head of the defeated general recalls the final episode of the battle of the Metaur won by the Romans against the Carthaginians. The use of perspective allows the phases of the action to be placed at apparent gradual distances with great narrative quality.
This work, which had been confiscated in 1942, resurfaced after negotiations with the spoiled heirs. Its inspection concludes as an autograph painting by Paolo Uccello. The proposed date is around 1468, about two years before another panel of the same expressive diversity, The Hunt in the Forest, 73 x 177 cm.
#AuctionUpdate Making its auction debut, Paolo Uccello’s battle scene soars to £2,415,000, over fifteen times its previous auction record. Colleagues from Old Masters, Impressionist and Contemporary were all on the phone bidding for the work. #RembrandtToRichter pic.twitter.com/X6D6qC1Goo
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 28, 2020
1470 portrait of a teenager by Piero del Pollaiuolo
2021 SOLD for £ 4.6M by Sotheby's
The early Quattrocento artists, like Ghiberti and Donatello, used a wide variety of techniques and ran important workshops. Antonio del Pollaiuolo was trained as a goldsmith with Ghiberti. He was also a sculptor, painter, architect and engraver.
His younger brother Piero del Pollaiuolo works closely with him. He specializes in painting and his works in this technique are difficult to separate from Antonio's. This specialization damages his reputation, and Vasari understates him.
Yet Piero is one of the best portrait innovators, after Andrea del Castagno in the timeline. His figures are painted from real models with great differentiation in facial features and eyes. The rich clothes are exquisitely painted.
On March 25, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 4.6M a half-length portrait of a beardless teenager in mixed technique tempera and oil on panel 49 x 35 cm, lot 109. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This full-face portrait is innovative, to be compared to the slightly biased portrait of men and to the classic profiles of women of that time. The young man is not identified but he belongs to the aristocracy by the sumptuous embroidery of his shirt and of his collar and by the silver brocades of his sleeveless jacket. He poses with kindness.
His clothes are identical to those of Piero de' Medici on his half-length marble portrait sculpted by Mino da Fiesole circa 1453. The painting is attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo around 1470 by comparisons of style with his other works. It is not a mere pictorial copy of the marble, on which Piero de' Medici was an adult.
This portrait of a young Florentine man has long been displayed in the library of the inventor Sir Thomas Merton, who was working for the British Secret Service. It appeared there as a pendant to Botticelli's portrait of a young man with a medallion which was sold for $ 92M by Sotheby's on January 28, 2021.
His younger brother Piero del Pollaiuolo works closely with him. He specializes in painting and his works in this technique are difficult to separate from Antonio's. This specialization damages his reputation, and Vasari understates him.
Yet Piero is one of the best portrait innovators, after Andrea del Castagno in the timeline. His figures are painted from real models with great differentiation in facial features and eyes. The rich clothes are exquisitely painted.
On March 25, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 4.6M a half-length portrait of a beardless teenager in mixed technique tempera and oil on panel 49 x 35 cm, lot 109. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This full-face portrait is innovative, to be compared to the slightly biased portrait of men and to the classic profiles of women of that time. The young man is not identified but he belongs to the aristocracy by the sumptuous embroidery of his shirt and of his collar and by the silver brocades of his sleeveless jacket. He poses with kindness.
His clothes are identical to those of Piero de' Medici on his half-length marble portrait sculpted by Mino da Fiesole circa 1453. The painting is attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo around 1470 by comparisons of style with his other works. It is not a mere pictorial copy of the marble, on which Piero de' Medici was an adult.
This portrait of a young Florentine man has long been displayed in the library of the inventor Sir Thomas Merton, who was working for the British Secret Service. It appeared there as a pendant to Botticelli's portrait of a young man with a medallion which was sold for $ 92M by Sotheby's on January 28, 2021.
1470 Virgin and Child Enthroned by Botticelli
2024 SOLD for £ 10M by Sotheby's
An exquisite enthroned Virgin with the Child on her lap was used by Berenson to reimagine the Sant'Ambrogio altarpiece, painted by Botticelli ca 1470, where the heads of mother and child had been overpainted in the style of Perugino.
That altarpiece, a tempera on panel 170 x 194 cm, features the Mother and Child surrounded by six saints probably modeled from the Medici family. The Virgin and Child enthroned, a lavish tempera and mixed media with gilding on top-arched panel 83 x 45 cm, had probably been prepared as a simplified replica for private devotion.
The replica recently resurfaced. It is now reassessed as autograph through infrared and X Ray inspection revealing the preparatory drawing. At that time Botticelli in his mid 20s sparesly used assistants.
It was sold for £ 10M from a lower estimate of £ 2M by Sotheby's on December 4, 2024, lot 3.
The face lines of the Madonna, her bent head and her hair dressing have been reused ten years later by the master in his Primavera. Her elongated torso is in the signature style of Botticelli.
That altarpiece, a tempera on panel 170 x 194 cm, features the Mother and Child surrounded by six saints probably modeled from the Medici family. The Virgin and Child enthroned, a lavish tempera and mixed media with gilding on top-arched panel 83 x 45 cm, had probably been prepared as a simplified replica for private devotion.
The replica recently resurfaced. It is now reassessed as autograph through infrared and X Ray inspection revealing the preparatory drawing. At that time Botticelli in his mid 20s sparesly used assistants.
It was sold for £ 10M from a lower estimate of £ 2M by Sotheby's on December 4, 2024, lot 3.
The face lines of the Madonna, her bent head and her hair dressing have been reused ten years later by the master in his Primavera. Her elongated torso is in the signature style of Botticelli.
for reference
1470 Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece
Uffizi
See above.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
early 1470s triptych by van der Goes
2017 SOLD for $ 9M by Christie's
On April 27, 2017, Christie's sold for $ 9M from a lower estimate of $ 3M a panel 111 x 125 cm composed as a triptych in Renaissance style, lot 8. At first glance the piece is shocking : it is an oil painting with the exception of the drawings of the Virgin and Child in the central part and of one of the two characters of saints in the left wing.
The great collector Horace Walpole had acquired it for 80 guineas in 1752 in an auction, as a scene of the marriage of Henry VII with Elizabeth of York in 1486. A difference in technique between the characters and the architectural elements suggests that the composition is hybrid but Walpole is very proud to possess this painting considered as typically Tudor. The provenance is known : it had belonged to William Sykes half a century earlier.
It is exhibited in 1890. An acute observer tells in the Gazette des Beaux Arts that he perceives a classic Virgin and Child through the central part which is a church interior without figures.
The work was acquired in 1977 by the art dealer Edward Speelman. Convinced that only the architectural elements and three of the four saints were contemporaries of the Flemish Renaissance, he entrusted the restoration to the specialist David Bull of the Norton Simon Museum.
In a patient work that spans almost ten years, Bull removes with his knife the 18th century paintings, certainly made by or for Sykes who had a reputation as a faker and knew how to transform works when it pleased his clients. Bull's work brings to light a superb drawing of the Virgin and Child in the central part, supersedes Elizabeth of York with an ill-preserved drawing of St John the Baptist and restitutes to the false Tudor the attributes of St. Louis.
The expertise continued. Radiographic inspection and infrared reflectography demonstrate that the quality of the under-drawing is homogeneous throughout the surface. All the composite elements resulting from the painstaking work of Bull come from a Renaissance work. The beauty of drawing, painting and colors indicates that this panel is the autograph work of a master.
The comparison of expressive details, such as the face of the Virgin or the study of feet, with works indisputably attributed to Hugo van der Goes is convincing and a dating in the early 1470s is consistent with the dendrochronology of the panel. Hugo was a perfectionist until he fell into madness. He worked in Ghent where he admired the polyptych painted half a century earlier by the van Eyck brothers for the altar of St. Bavon's cathedral.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The great collector Horace Walpole had acquired it for 80 guineas in 1752 in an auction, as a scene of the marriage of Henry VII with Elizabeth of York in 1486. A difference in technique between the characters and the architectural elements suggests that the composition is hybrid but Walpole is very proud to possess this painting considered as typically Tudor. The provenance is known : it had belonged to William Sykes half a century earlier.
It is exhibited in 1890. An acute observer tells in the Gazette des Beaux Arts that he perceives a classic Virgin and Child through the central part which is a church interior without figures.
The work was acquired in 1977 by the art dealer Edward Speelman. Convinced that only the architectural elements and three of the four saints were contemporaries of the Flemish Renaissance, he entrusted the restoration to the specialist David Bull of the Norton Simon Museum.
In a patient work that spans almost ten years, Bull removes with his knife the 18th century paintings, certainly made by or for Sykes who had a reputation as a faker and knew how to transform works when it pleased his clients. Bull's work brings to light a superb drawing of the Virgin and Child in the central part, supersedes Elizabeth of York with an ill-preserved drawing of St John the Baptist and restitutes to the false Tudor the attributes of St. Louis.
The expertise continued. Radiographic inspection and infrared reflectography demonstrate that the quality of the under-drawing is homogeneous throughout the surface. All the composite elements resulting from the painstaking work of Bull come from a Renaissance work. The beauty of drawing, painting and colors indicates that this panel is the autograph work of a master.
The comparison of expressive details, such as the face of the Virgin or the study of feet, with works indisputably attributed to Hugo van der Goes is convincing and a dating in the early 1470s is consistent with the dendrochronology of the panel. Hugo was a perfectionist until he fell into madness. He worked in Ghent where he admired the polyptych painted half a century earlier by the van Eyck brothers for the altar of St. Bavon's cathedral.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
#Masterpiece : un tableau rare de Hugo Van der Goes fait partie de la vente Old Master Paintings chez @ChristiesInc à New-York le 27 avril pic.twitter.com/tOVgTLUZgW
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) March 13, 2017
1470-1475 Descent into Limbo by Mantegna
2003 SOLD for $ 28.6M by Sotheby's
Andrea Mantegna was one of the most daring experimenters of the pictorial image, mixing perspective and foreshortening in an unprecedented sense of staging. In 1460 he was appointed court painter at Mantua, where his genius was recognized by the Gonzaga dynasty.
On January 23, 2003, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.6M a Descent of Christ into Limbo, tempera and gold on canvas 39 x 42 cm painted circa 1470-1475. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This theme is rare because it is only told in apocryphal scriptures. Between the Passion and the Resurrection, Christ makes a visit to Limbo where the virtuous patriarchs wait for the Messiah to open to them the gates of Paradise, closed since the fault of Adam.
The figures are standing on two floors as if by an ingenious theater machinery. Christ is seen from the back, bent over to comfort a patriarch who comes out at mid length from the abyss. At the same level as Christ in this world of the dead, five characters pray, four on the left and one on the right. They are naked except for a modest cloth around the belt.
The composition is designed with a remarkable balance divided in its center by the stick of Christ, creating a strong narrative tension although the main character, Christ, is not recognizable. Mantegna was possibly influenced by Donatello's formal studies for the interaction between the characters. Once again his independence from the traditional Christian iconography is extraordinary for his time.
On January 23, 2003, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.6M a Descent of Christ into Limbo, tempera and gold on canvas 39 x 42 cm painted circa 1470-1475. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This theme is rare because it is only told in apocryphal scriptures. Between the Passion and the Resurrection, Christ makes a visit to Limbo where the virtuous patriarchs wait for the Messiah to open to them the gates of Paradise, closed since the fault of Adam.
The figures are standing on two floors as if by an ingenious theater machinery. Christ is seen from the back, bent over to comfort a patriarch who comes out at mid length from the abyss. At the same level as Christ in this world of the dead, five characters pray, four on the left and one on the right. They are naked except for a modest cloth around the belt.
The composition is designed with a remarkable balance divided in its center by the stick of Christ, creating a strong narrative tension although the main character, Christ, is not recognizable. Mantegna was possibly influenced by Donatello's formal studies for the interaction between the characters. Once again his independence from the traditional Christian iconography is extraordinary for his time.
1473 Gilt Bronze Figure of Vajrabhairava
2021 SOLD for € 14M by Nagel
A 94 cm high monumental fire-gilded bronze Buddhist figure was sold for € 14M by Nagel on June 23, 2021. It is illustrated in the post sale release by Barnebys.
It features Vairabhairava, an emanation of the bodhisattva Manjushri. With its buffalo head, 8 secondary heads, 34 arms and 16 legs, this deity is equipped to win over death.
This piece weighs 169 Kg including 10 Kg of gilding. It bears the Chenghua Imperial mark and is inscribed with its dedication date on the 2nd day of the 11th month of the 9th year of that reign, 1473 CE. It is guessed that it had been commissioned by the principal concubine of the Chenghua emperor.
It features Vairabhairava, an emanation of the bodhisattva Manjushri. With its buffalo head, 8 secondary heads, 34 arms and 16 legs, this deity is equipped to win over death.
This piece weighs 169 Kg including 10 Kg of gilding. It bears the Chenghua Imperial mark and is inscribed with its dedication date on the 2nd day of the 11th month of the 9th year of that reign, 1473 CE. It is guessed that it had been commissioned by the principal concubine of the Chenghua emperor.
Nie zuvor war auf deutschem Boden eine höhere Summe für ein Kunstobjekt erzielt worden.
— Barnebys.de (@Barnebysde) June 25, 2021
1477 The Canterbury Tales printed by Caxton
1998 SOLD for £ 4.6M by Christie's
William Caxton travels in the service of Edward IV. His function is both diplomatic and commercial, and in 1462 he is appointed governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, acting in Flanders.
He is a very important promoter of English literature, himself making numerous translations of secular texts. He understands the cultural incentive of the printing press during a visit to Cologne in 1471. He immediately transfers a printing press to Bruges. Translated from French by Caxton and printed in Flanders in 1473, the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the very first incunabula in the English language. A copy was sold for £ 1.08M by Sotheby's on July 15, 2014.
After his successful experience in Flanders, Caxton returned to London in 1476. His expertise in the new art of printing was eagerly awaited. He instals a press in Westminster, the first of its kind in England.
His passion for English literature is heightened by this possibility of dissemination. He is a great admirer of Chaucer, which he publishes without resorting to sponsors. Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, becomes in 1477 the first masterpiece of English printing. This achievement is all the more meritorious as Caxton later complained of the poor literary quality of the manuscript at his disposal.
About ten copies of this original edition have survived, plus three important fragments. The only complete copy, which had belonged to King George III, is in the British Library. The illuminated copy kept in Oxford has been completed.
On July 8, 1998 at lot 2, Christie's sold for £ 4.6M the only copy in private hands, which is also one of the most complete with only 4 missing leaves.
He is a very important promoter of English literature, himself making numerous translations of secular texts. He understands the cultural incentive of the printing press during a visit to Cologne in 1471. He immediately transfers a printing press to Bruges. Translated from French by Caxton and printed in Flanders in 1473, the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the very first incunabula in the English language. A copy was sold for £ 1.08M by Sotheby's on July 15, 2014.
After his successful experience in Flanders, Caxton returned to London in 1476. His expertise in the new art of printing was eagerly awaited. He instals a press in Westminster, the first of its kind in England.
His passion for English literature is heightened by this possibility of dissemination. He is a great admirer of Chaucer, which he publishes without resorting to sponsors. Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, becomes in 1477 the first masterpiece of English printing. This achievement is all the more meritorious as Caxton later complained of the poor literary quality of the manuscript at his disposal.
About ten copies of this original edition have survived, plus three important fragments. The only complete copy, which had belonged to King George III, is in the British Library. The illuminated copy kept in Oxford has been completed.
On July 8, 1998 at lot 2, Christie's sold for £ 4.6M the only copy in private hands, which is also one of the most complete with only 4 missing leaves.
1478 presented to Wu Kuan by Shen Zhou
2017 SOLD for RMB 148M by China Guardian
A handscroll in ink on paper dated 1478 CE that had required 3 years of work was presented by Shen Zhou to his younger friend Wu Kuan, an artist, calligrapher, poet and statesman. Shen's painting is 31 x 1090 cm plus the frontispiece and postscripts. It depicts a suite of changing landscapes.
It was sold for RMB 148M by China Guardian on December 18, 2017, lot 456. The image is shared in the post sale report by ChinaDaily.
Shen Zhou is considered as one of the four master painters of Ming dynasty.
It was sold for RMB 148M by China Guardian on December 18, 2017, lot 456. The image is shared in the post sale report by ChinaDaily.
Shen Zhou is considered as one of the four master painters of Ming dynasty.
Nasrid Ear Dagger
2010 SOLD for £ 3.7M by Sotheby's
When we fought with knives, the dagger was particularly dangerous, with its short blade that allowed a movement of great precision.
It had also to protect the hand, and the ear dagger was appreciated by hunters and soldiers. In this model, the guard consists of two flat disks (the "ears") confronting on both sides of the handle.
A refined specimen was sold for £ 3.7M from a lower estimate of £ 600K on October 6, 2010 by Sotheby's. Coming from Nasrid Spain, this piece has been made in the 9th century AH, more than 500 years ago. The final defeat of the Nasrids by Ferdinand and Isabella was in 1492 of our calendar.
With a total length of 30 cm, it is finely damascened with scenes of hunting and with cartouches including Kufic-style inscriptions.
It had also to protect the hand, and the ear dagger was appreciated by hunters and soldiers. In this model, the guard consists of two flat disks (the "ears") confronting on both sides of the handle.
A refined specimen was sold for £ 3.7M from a lower estimate of £ 600K on October 6, 2010 by Sotheby's. Coming from Nasrid Spain, this piece has been made in the 9th century AH, more than 500 years ago. The final defeat of the Nasrids by Ferdinand and Isabella was in 1492 of our calendar.
With a total length of 30 cm, it is finely damascened with scenes of hunting and with cartouches including Kufic-style inscriptions.
