None
Hide caption
Baldassarre Coldiradi, Italy, Cremona, c. 1480 (ante 1498?)
King David playing the Psaltery, in an Initial ‘B’ from a Choir Psalter
240 × 222 mm
Baldassarre Coldiradi
King David playing the Psaltery, in an Initial ‘B’ from a Choir Psalter
Italy, Cremona, c. 1480 (ante 1498?)
240 × 222 mm
$35000.00
Within this large initial ‘B’ sits King David, set in a finely crafted and
luminous landscape. Bathed in a divine inspiration suggested by a golden
cloud, he plays the Psaltery. His face, shown in three-quarter view and lifted
toward the heavens, is framed by long hair cascading over his shoulders and
his large hat. Crouching with the instrument resting on his knees, he appears
with legs that, glimpsed beneath sumptuous drapery, seem curiously short.
%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title%22%3E%3Cem%3EBaldassarre%20Coldiradi%3C%2Fem%3E%2C%20Italy%2C%20Cremona%2C%20c.%201480%20%28ante%201498%3F%29%3C%2Fdiv%3E%0D%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EKing%20David%20playing%20the%20Psaltery%2C%20in%20an%20Initial%20%E2%80%98B%E2%80%99%20from%20a%20Choir%20Psalter%3C%2Fdiv%3E%0D%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E240%20%C3%97%20222%20mm%3C%2Fdiv%3E
90
233
Description
Within this large initial ‘B’ sits King David, set in a finely crafted and luminous landscape. Bathed in a divine inspiration suggested by a golden cloud, he plays the Psaltery. His face, shown in three-quarter view and lifted toward the heavens, is framed by long hair cascading over his shoulders and his large hat. Crouching with the instrument resting on his knees, he appears with legs that, glimpsed beneath sumptuous drapery, seem curiously short. T he surrounding vegetation is rendered with remarkable precision: delicate tufts of grass in the foreground, rocky outcrops slightly further back, and, beyond them, soft rolling hills and tall, slender trees silhouetted against a sky streaked with blue-silver clouds.
Both the stylistic features of the initial, its foliage with tightly curled contours, and those of King David, whose draperies fall in looped folds enriched with golden highlights, clearly point to the hand of Baldassarre Coldiradi (compare Paris, BnF, AD 132A Rés and King David, Forrer Collection). Particularly compelling is the comparison with King David pointing to his tongue (Bloomington, Indiana University Library, no. K7), whose profile displays the same facial physiognomy: identical eyes, neck, hairstyle, and wide-brimmed hat, as well as the same characteristically large hands.
Cut from the upper left corner of a folio and originally framed by border decoration likely made by two quadrangular squares, the framing, the structure, and the stylistic characteristics of the initial closely recall those of the Antiphonal (Codex XXI) in the Diocesan Historical Archive of Cremona. According to Mario Marubbi, our David should belong to the group of detached miniatures originating from a series of illuminated Choir Books produced for the convent of the Augustinian nuns of Santa Monica in Cremona. Marubbi has sought to reconstruct this corpus by comparing several cuttings from the same commission preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris (AD 132A Rés) with others now in the Museo Civico in Cremona. A definitive reconstruction, however, remains elusive, but we hope that further research will shed additional light on this ensemble
We are grateful to Mario Marubbi for his expertise.
Gaia Grizzi
provenance
France, Private Collection;
Switzerland, Private Collection.
exhibitions
Related literature:
Puerari 1976, pp. 80–81, 93;
Daneu-Lattanzi in Salvini 1984, pp. 335–45;
Marubbi 1989, pp. 252–54; Melograni 1995;
Passoni in Bollati 2004, pp. 167–71;
Marubbi in Ottolenghi and Rossi 2010, pp. 101–106.
learn
Baldassarre Coldiradi
Italy, Cremona, documented 1482–1484
Described in a payment register as “peritus imminiator librorum” (expert in illuminating manuscripts), Baldassarre Coldiradi’s activity is documented during the last decades of the fifteenth century in connection with the renewal of the chapter Choir Books of Cremona. He was working in collaboration with the Gadio family’s scriptorium, and he is specifically credited with the production of an Antiphonal and a Psalter. Today, several exceptional manuscripts preserved in the Diocesan Historical Archive of Cremona are attributed to Coldiradi’s hand. These include: the Codex VI, an Antiphonal signed by Giovanni Gadio and dated 1482; the Codex X, a Common of the Saints from an Antiphonal; the Codex XII, a Psalter dated 1484 also signed by Giovanni Gadio; and the Codex XXI, an Antiphonal written and annotated before 1498 by Fra Apollonio da Calvisano for the Convent of Saint Augustine in Cremona. Scholars have noted in Coldiradi’s style echoes of the Ferrarese expressive tradition with passages that recall the refined plasticity of Mantegna. His artistic language has been compared to that of Giovan Pietro Birago, the Master of the Mare Magnum, and Cicognara, positioning him as a transitional figure between late medieval illumination and the emerging Renaissance aesthetics of Lombardy. In recent years, several cuttings and single illuminated leaves attributed to Coldiradi have appeared on the art market (for example London, Sotheby’s, 10 July 2025, lot 23). Beyond the market, additional works linked to his hand are held in prominent public collections, including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Museo Civico in Cremona.