Beschreibung:

THE SPANISH FORGER. The Adoration of the Magi. VERY LARGE MINIATURE ON AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT LEAF ON VELLUM. Leaf 290 x 313mm, miniature 240 x 195mm. The Virgin and Joseph standing in the manger. She is holding the Child. The three kings, one kneeling are offering their gifts. At their side four attendants, one leading three horses. A castle on a hill in the background. Within a pink and blue frame filled with white penwork tracery. The outer border of scrolling coloured acanthus and golden ivy leaves containing two figures of angels playing a harp and a violin appears to be from a genuine 15th-century Italian manuscript, as is the seven-line red rubric below the miniature referring to prayers for the last day of the Vigils before Christmas. It is likely that the miniature replaces a text that has been erased. A particularly fine miniature by the Spanish Forger. Cf. W.Voelkle, The Spanish Forger (N.Y.: 1978) L54 and fig.171 where a somewhat similar scene is reproduced.