Cola di Fuccio

Exhibited by Les Enluminures

Material Tempera and gold leaf on parchment

Dimensions 18.4 × 14 cm

Place of Creation Italy, Siena

Price Available upon inquiry

Status Vetted

About the Work

This vivid cutting of Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon in an initial ‘B’ from Psalm 102:20, “Benedicite dominum omnes angeli” (Bless the Lord, all ye his angels), illustrates the Mass of the Dedication of Saint Michael the Archangel celebrated on September 29 from the Proper of the Saints in a Gradual. As the story goes, the military saint and the weigher of souls at the Last Judgment, Michael, was one day called upon to fight against Satan, who had transformed himself into a dragon. Of course, Saint Michael was triumphant. Dressed in voluminous pink, green, and yellow robes, Michael twists sideways, his drapery dramatically fluttering behind him, as he thrusts a spear into the head of a fearsome dragon that curls around the lower bar of the ‘B.’ Saint Michael’s majestic, brilliant orange wings echo the vivid orange acanthus in the initial. The artist, Cola di Fuccio, conveys dynamic movement in a three dimensional setting with just a single figure staged against a rich blue lapis lazuli ground. The mastery of line, harmonious use of color, decorative details of the garment, and dramatic chiaroscuro characterize the illuminator at the top of his game.

Physical Description:

184 × 140 mm, cut to shape, tempera and gold leaf on parchment; reverse: two staves with continuation of the Mass of the Dedication of Saint Michael (Psalm 102:20) “[…potentes virtute, qui facitis verbum ejus, ad a]udicendam [vocum ser]monu[m ejus …],” height of stave 45 mm, some losses in the lapis background near the head of Michael and the gold of his halo.

For more information, please click here: https://www.lesenluminures.com/artworks/categories/9/10151-cola-di-fuccio-maestro-di-sant-rsquo-eugenio-italy-siena-c.-1340/

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Provenance

Siena, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino;
Edinburgh, Scotland, James Dennistoun (1803–1844);
Auckland Castle, County Durham, England, Isabella Caroline Hensley-Henson (1869–1940);
United Kingdom, Saltwood Castle, Sir Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (1903–1983);
exhibited 1965, The Art of Painting in Florence and Siena from 1250 to 1500, “lent by Sir Kenneth Clark”;
France, Private Collection.

Literature

London 1965, p. 50, no. 87, fig. 86;
Bologna 1977;
Siena 1982, pp. 222–28;
Avignon 1983, pp. 201–14, cat. 74–8;
Lugano-Castagnola 1991, pp. 39–40;
De Benedictis in Boskovits 1994, pp. 21–25;
Labriola, De Benedictis, and Freuler 2002, pp. 107–13;
Freuler in Bollati 2004, pp. 705–708;
Cleveland, San Francisco, and New York 2003, pp. 51–52, cat. 28;
Freuler 2009;
Freuler in Paris 2011, cat. 17, pp. 47–49;
De Benedictis in Medica, Toniolo, and Martoni 2016, pp. 133–38, cat. 17a-d;
Freuler in Hindman and Toniolo 2021, pp. 134–35, 221–29, Gazzillo 2021;
Gazzillo 2022;
Signorello 2022;
Manus 2025