Il contributo di Claudio Massarelli da Caravaggio al Lezionario Farnese (Towneley Lectionary) e la miniatura dopo Giulio Clovio

The Contribution of Claudio Massarelli da Caravaggio to the Farnese Lectionary and the Illimination after Giulio Clovio: Bartholomeus Spranger, Francesco da Castello and Giovanni Battista Castello il GenoveseThe article defines the career of the illuminator-painter Claudio Massarelli da Caravaggio and identifies his illuminations in Giulio Clovio's Lezionario Farnese (Towneley Lectionary), currently held in the New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, Manuscript 91). An unpublished papal brief by Sixtus V documents that Massarelli was born in 1551 and was still active in Rome in 1586. The second part of the study is focused on three illuminators-painters who were followers of Giulio Clovio: Bartholomeus Spranger, Frans van de Casteele called Francesco da Castello and Giovanni Battista Castello il Genovese.

An illuminationwith the Virgin, sold at auction as by Clovio, is here attributed by G.B. Castello il Genovese. A detached folio with the Crucifixion (now in Toledo, ms. 534) is here attributed to Spranger, proving that the illuminator was also active for Pope Gregory XIII. After Spranger left Rome, the protagonist of illumination was the Flemish Francesco da Castello, whose relations with Spranger are here highlighted. [Publisher's text]