Illuminated initial P with miniature painting of the Adoration of Jesus. From an Antiphonal

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Illuminated initial P with miniature painting of the Adoration of Jesus. From an Antiphonal

Place of OriginFrance

Dateabout 1480

Dimensionsoverall: 7 15/16 in. (20.1 cm)

Mediumink on vellum with gold leaf

ClassificationManuscripts

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1923.3203

Not on View

Label TextLetters starting an important passage were often enlarged and decorated with miniature scenes in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. These decorated initial letters, like the “P” here, are called historiated initials. This example features a highly detailed Adoration of Jesus scene, in which Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and diminutive angels worship the infant Christ at the stable where he was born. Approaching shepherds can be seen in the background as the landscape extends deep into receding space. Note the use of “atmospheric perspective”—the landscape fading to a hazy blue. This is a 15th-century painting technique championed by Leonardo da Vinci and used to portray distance. This painted scene is a fragment cut from a page of a manuscript—probably a choir book—by someone who valued the ornate imagery more than the contents on the missing portion of the page. Though frowned upon now, this was common practice at the time the Museum acquired this manuscript page (1923).Published ReferencesMaggs Bros., Books on Art and Allied Subjects, London, 1923, cat. 437, no. 1146, p. 267, repr. plate LX.

Ricci, Seymour de, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, New York, 1935-39, vol. 2, p. 1974, no. 15.

Voelkle, William M. and Roger S. Wieck, The Bernard H. Breslauer Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, New York, 1992, p. 82.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Art of the Bible, Nov. 2, 2001 - Jan. 27, 2002.