Illuminated Leaves and Cuttings From the Collection of Rodolphe Kann

The only complete list of the leaves and cuttings in the collection is:

Édouard Rahir, Catalogue of the Rodolphe Kann Collection, Objets d’art, I: Middle Age and Renaissance (Paris, 1907), nos. 74-87

For this reason, the items are listed below in order of the Rahir catalogue, using its numbering.

The only art-historical study of a large part the collection is:

W. Suida, ‘Italian Miniature Paintings from the Rodolphe Kann Collection’, Art in America: An Illustrated Quarterly, 35 (1947), 19–33

The vast majority were exhibited at the LA County Museum in 1953-54:

Los Angeles: Mediaeval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts: A Loan Exhibition, November 25, 1953–January 9, 1954, Los Angeles County Museum (Los Angeles, 1953)

One miniature and one initial were bought in 1963 by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where they remain.

Several initials were bought by Denys Sutton in 1963, and sold from his collection at Christie's, 4 June 2008, lots 30-34.

The residue of the collection was bought by Norton Simon in 1965, of which a few were donated elsewhere, a few have been kept; the rest were sold at Sotheby's, 8 July 1974, lots 18-24.

Rahir no. 74
Christ Blessing, Surrounded by Saints including St Francis, a full-page miniature presumably from a Book of Hours or Prayerbook
Italy, 16th century
Suida 1947, pp. 29-30, fig. 8, attributed to Liberale da Verona (1445-1529)
LACMA 1953, no. 128

EDIT, 31 May 2021: I have now located this leaf in the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg (59.25.1), and have therefore replaced the black-and-white image that was here, with this colour one:

Rahir no. 75 [a, b, c]
Nineteen historiated initials, cuttings stuck to three sheets (8 + 8 + 3)
Suida, 1947, pp. 26-27, fig. 5; attributed to Lombardy, last decade of the 15th century, and attributed to the workshop of the Arcimboldi Missal (presented by Ludovico il Moro to the archbishop of Milan c.1495); described as being from an Antiphonary
LACMA 1953 nos. 109, 111, and 112: attributed to Lombardy, ca. 1475, and described as being from a Psalter [sic]

[a] Eight historiated initials:
    1. St John the Baptist
    2. St Anne
    3. St Anthony
    4. St George
    5. Two saints: a deacon and a Benedictine monk
    6. Sts Gervase & Prothase
    7. St Ambrose
    8. St Agnes

This sheet has been separated into its constituent parts:

1. St John the Baptist
Les Enluminures, Cat. 8 [1999], no. 35 (col. ill.) and Jörn Günther, Overlooking the Ages, exh. cat. (October 1999), no. 26 (col. ill.)

Now Burke Collection, San Francisco (Bollati, in Hindman & Toniolo cat., 2021, no. 35, attributed to Lombardy, c.1500)

(detail) [Source]

2. St Anne, holding the Virgin and Child
Christie’s, 4 June 2008, lot 31, attributed to Verona, 1490s, perhaps Francesco dai Libri

3. St Anthony Abbot
Sotheby's, 8 July 1974, lot 20, attributed to Lombardy, c. 1475-85

4. St George

Christie’s, 4 June 2008, lot 33, attributed as St Anne, above 

Les Enluminures, Cat. 16 (2011), no. 4, attributed to an associated of the Archimboldi Missal, Mantua or Brescia, c. 1495; attributed by Bollati in the Burke catalogue to the same artist as the St John the Baptist cutting, above

5. Two martyr-saints (a deacon and a Benedictine monk?)
[EDIT, 5 December 2021: Matteo Mazzalupi suggests, in the comments below, that these saints should be identified as Sts Vincent (deacon) and Anastasius (monk), martyrs, whose feastday was 22 Jan.]
Sotheby's, 1974, lot 22, attributed to Lombardy, c. 1475-85

6. Sts Gervase & Prothase

Christie’s, 4 June 2008, lot 34, attributed as St Anne and St George, above

Sotheby’s, 3 December 2013, lot 35, attributed to Verona, c.1490-1500

7. St Ambrose
Sotheby's, 1974, lot 24, attributed to Lombardy, c. 1475-85

8. St Agnes
Christie’s, 4 June 2008, lot 32, attributed as Sts Anne, George, et al., as above 

[b] Eight historiated initials:

    1. St Jerome
    2. St Lucy
    3. St Dominic? (a sainted monk with lily)
    4. St Michael
    5. A sainted bishop with a book
    6. St Nicholas
    7. Arma Christi
    8. Two Apostles

1. St Jerome
No image or provenance known to me

2. St Lucy
No image or provenance known to me

[EDIT, 22 Jan 2022: I think I have found it; this cutting is at the Williams College Museum of Art, MA (Inv. 63.11):

[Source]

3. St Dominic?
[EDIT, 5 December 2021: Matteo Mazzalupi suggests, in the comments below, that this should be identified as Nicholas of Tolentino or Philip Benizi]
Sotheby's, 8 July 1974  lot 21, attributed to Lombardy, c. 1475-85

4. St Michael
Sotheby's, 8 July 1974  lot 19, attributed to Lombardy, c. 1475-85

5. A sainted bishop with a book
No image or provenance known to me

6. St Nicholas
Sotheby's, 8 July 1974, lot 23, attributed to Lombardy, c. 1475-85

7. Arma Christi
No image or provenance known to me

8. Two apostles(?)
Attributed by Bollati in the Burke catalogue to the same artist as the St John the Baptist cutting, above
Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Inv. 63.27.3
[I am very grateful to Colleen Yarger for images and considerable other help with the VMFA cuttings]

[c] Three historiated initials:

    1. St Agatha
    2. St Sebastian
    3. A saint-pope with two young saints
This is the only one of the three sheets that has not been separated into individual cuttings. They are attributed by Bollati in the Burke catalogue to the same artist as the John the Baptist cutting, above.
Now Paris, Musée Marmottan, Wildenstein Collection, 6103 - 6105

Rahir no. 76
King David in Penitence on the Beatus page from a Choir Psalter
Italy, Florence, mid 15th century
Suida 1947, pp. 19-21, fig. 1, attributed to Zanobi Strozzi (this attributon is rejected in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 1300-1450, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1994), p. 352)
LACMA 1953, no. 115

[EDIT,11 April 2021: Jörn Günther has kindly contacted me to let me know that this leaf is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art, so I can provide a colour image. Strangely, even though Rudolphe Kann is included in the provenance, searching the collection database for "Kann" does not locate this record.]

Cleveland, CMA, Inv. 1964.149 [Source]

Rahir no. 77
St Augustine in an initial L, on a cutting from a Choirbook
Italy/Spain, late 15th century
Suida 1947, pp. 31-32, fig. 9; attributed to the Spaniard Pedro Berruguete, while working for Federico da Montefeltro at Urbino 
LACMA 1953, no. 131

EDIT, 31 May 2021: This cuttings is also at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg (58.4.1), and have therefore replaced the black-and-white image that was here, with this colour one:

EDIT, 17 March 2022: I have now found that this cutting was H.P. Kraus, Catalogue 88: Fifty Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts [New York, 1958], no. 37 (with colour frontispiece).

Rahir no. 78
The Flagellation and a foliate border, on a cutting from a Gradual
Italy, late 15th century
Suida 1947, pp. 23-26 and fig. 4; attributed to Antonio da Monza
LACMA 1953, no. 116
Now Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum, F.1965.1.101.P

[Source]

Rahir no. 79
Foliate border and initial on a leaf (from the same MS as no. 78?)
[Edit, 11 April 2021: No, not from the same MS, see Comments below]
[Not described by Suida or included in LACMA 1953]
Formerly in the Norton Simon Collection; given in 1966 to UCLA
Described as from a Breviary, s. XVIII-XIX(?) by Ferrari & Rouse, Medieval & Renaissance MSS at UCLA, 1991, p. 7, fig. 36. [It does not look later than the 16th century to me]
Now Los Angeles, UCLA, Belt Library 73

EDIT, 23 April 2021: 

Laura Zabeo has kindly contacted me and to let me know that this leaf can be attributed to Giuliano Amadei (d. 1496), that she signalled this in a recent article: 'L’ultimo Amadei a Lucca', Rivista di storia della miniatura, 24 (2020), pp. 109-123 and Tav. X, at note 33, and that it had also been published in E. Fahy, L’archivio storico fotografico di Stefano Bardini: Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe (Florence, 2000), no. and fig. 696. Laura also points out that fig. 695 in the same publication is now in the Wildenstein collection at the Musée Marmottan, Paris (image below). She suggests that the ornament is by Amadei, the figure by Francesco Marmitta.

Rahir no. 80
The Nativity in an initial P(?) ('Puer natus est'?), on a cutting from an Antiphonary(?)
Italy (Ferrara?), 15th century
Suida 1947, pp. 28-29, fig. 6, described as a "Q" and suggesting the influence of Ercole de'Roberti
LACMA 1953, no. 124
Attributed by Toniolo to Franco dei Russi; reported by Szépe in the Burke catalogue, p. 404

Rahir no. 81
Pentecost, in an initial D, on a cutting from a choirbook
Italy, Verona, late 15th century
Suida 1947, fig. 2, attributed to Attavante
LACMA 1953, no. 127
Norton Simon Foundation; Sotheby's, 8 July 1974, lot 18 (ill.)
Bernard Breslauer (Voelkle & Wieck, exh. cat., 1993-94, no. 85, attributed to Giralomo dai Libri, Verona, late 1480s)
Now Burke Collection, San Francisco (Szépe in the Hindman & Toniolo catalogue, 2021, no. 40, attributed to Giralomo dai Libri, Verona, c.1490-95)

[Source]

Rahir no. 82
The Annunciation, in an initial M, on a cutting from a choirbook
Suida 1947, p. 29, fig. 7 (attributed to Guglielmo Girardi, Ferrara)
LACMA 1953, no. 123
Denys Sutton; Christie's, 21 June 2008, lot 30 (col. ill.), attributed to Guglielmo Giraldi, Ferrara, c.1470
Sandra Hindman; Christie's, 14 December 2020, lot 15, attributed to Tommaso di Cesare da Basso da Modena (c.1480-1510), an attribution perhaps deriving from Toniolo (see the Burke catalogue, p. 405)

Rahir no. 83
The Nativity, a full-page miniature from a Book of Hours
Southern Netherlands, 15th century
See the previous post
Now Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Inv. 63.27.2

Rahir no. 84
Pliny Writing, with full border of putti and Renaissnce motifs, on the first page of Book II of Pliny's Natural History, in Landino's Italian translation
Printed by Jenson; Venice, 1476
Suida 1947, pp. 23-23, fig. 3, illumination attributed to Cristoforo de Predis
LACMA 1953, no. 110: Venice, 1474 [sic]
Now Los Angeles, UCLA, Elmer Belt Library

EDIT 24 April 2021

Laura Zabeo (cf above) has also brought to my attention the fact that this leaf was in the New York part of The Painted Page exhibition in 1995, and is no. 86 in the catalogue, with a colour image, so I can now replace the black-and-white one that was here before. The catalogue entry is by Lilian Armstrong, who points out that the illuminator signed his partially legible name "OPUS PETRI V[...]" around the circular frame of the bust of Titus in the right-hand border.

Rahir no. 85
A Tournament
[Not included in Suida 1947 or LACMA 1953]
Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, p. 68 no. OL6, fig. 300
France, late 19th/early 20th century
Now Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum, Inv. F.1965.1.102.P

Rahir no. 86
A Banquet
French, late 19th/early 20th century
[Not included in Suida 1947 or LACMA 1953]
Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, p. 69, no. OL7, fig. 302
Now Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum, Inv. F.1965.1.103.P

[Source]

Rahir no. 87
The Life of St Louis IX in eight scenes
[Not included in Suida 1947]
LACMA 1953, no. 69, attributed to "France (Amiens), 15th Cent." !
Voelkle, Spanish Forger, no. OL11, fig 267
Now New York, Morgan Library and Museum, MS. M.786b