( fl c. 1440–60). Italian illuminator. He is named after a two-volume Breviary of Franciscan Use (Bologna, Bib. U., MS. 337), which was probably written c. 1446. His work is also found in several other manuscripts, including a splendid Gradual entirely illuminated in his style (Ithaca, NY, Cornell U., Lib., MS. B 50++), a Breviary (Parma, Bib. Palatina, MS. 6) and a Psalter (Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. Barb. lat. 585), and in many cuttings from choir-books (e.g. Berlin, Kupferstichkab., nos 1234 and 6694; Venice, Fond. Cini, nos 2172 and 2207; Paris, Mus. Marmottan, no. 27). The Vatican Psalter was commissioned by Cardinal Ioannes Bessarion, papal legate for Bologna 1450–55, and is probably part of the great series of choir-books that he commissioned during his residence in Emilia. This series of at least 20 large-format volumes was the work of several artists and was presented to the convent of S Maria Annunziata in Cesena after its foundation in 1458. The Master of the Franciscan Breviary’s contribution to this series has been identified in two surviving Antiphonals (Cesena, Bib. Malatestiana, Corale 3; and sold Amsterdam, Mensing–Muller, 5 April 1935, lot 19) and in folios cut from dismembered books (Venice, Fond. Cini, nos 2096–7). Features of the Master’s highly decorative style, such as the smoothly modelled round faces and the flowing contours of figures and drapery, place him among the followers of the Lombard painter Michelino da Besozzo. His identification as Ambrogio da Cermenate or as Jacopino Cietario cannot be sustained. He apparently had access to the designs of Giovannino de Grassi and Belbello da Pavia as he repeated many of their motifs, especially extravagantly structured architectural initials. Notable is his unusual and subtle manipulation of monochrome: black with gold, light brown with white or light blue, pinks and greens. When he used a full palette the results were spectacular, particularly the brilliant, glowing colours of his fluid draperies highlighted with touches of gold. His style is characteristic of the colourful and charming illumination produced in and around Milan throughout the first 60 years of the 15th century.

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family