Italian school, 15th century.
"Holy Family at the Portal".
Mixed media on parchment.
Fragment of cantorial leaf.
Measurements: 22 x 9,5 cm. (irregular format).
Miniature painting from an Italian Gothic cantoral. This fragment of parchment shows a large part of a Nativity scene, in which the Holy Family is accompanied by the stable animals usually introduced in the iconography of the Nativity scene (a donkey and an ox), as well as a group of angels, whose heads are crowded together, leaning out of the upper part of the portal. The line drawing is characteristic of late Gothic, close to International Gothic, as is the ornamental proliferation of borders and synthetic vegetal elements. Gold leaf covers the nimbuses and part of the backgrounds, alternating with the cobalt blue and Gothic pink characteristic of the miniated codices of the period.