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Oct 16, 2006

Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation

1430–1438

Stefano da Verona

(Italian, c. 1375–1438)

Italy, Lombardy, 15th century

Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Sheet: 19.7 x 16.7 cm (7 3/4 x 6 9/16 in.); Framed: 52.4 x 39.7 cm (20 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.); Matted: 48.9 x 36.2 cm (19 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.)

Gift from J. H. Wade 1924.431

Location

not on view

Description

This masterful initial M, colorful and crowded with playful animals and fantastic forms, recalls the announcement to the Virgin Mary by the Angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a son: Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Miriam Virginem. . . . (The Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary. . . .), the response for the first Sunday in Advent. The decorated initial is related in style to a set of choir books made by Belbello for the Church of Saints Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Belbello's style has been associated with another artist, the Master of the Murano Gradual, with whom he possibly collaborated in Venice. Belbello's career placed him in Milan, Mantua, Pavia, and Venice. His services were highly sought after by Renaissance princes, and his style was influential and widespread in northern Italy.

Provenance

Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice

W. Y. Ottley (his sale London, 11 May 1838, lot 41)

Durlacher Bros., New York

Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice; W.Y. Ottley (his sale London, 11 May 1838, lot 41); (Durlacher Bros., New York)

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 213 archive.org

Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.). The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962, / B. [Baltimore, Md.]: Walters Art Gallery, 1962. cat. no. 76

Cleveland Museum of Art. A Missal for a King. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1963. no. 67 archive.org

Milliken, William Mathewson. Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the Early XVIth Centuries: An Exhibition. Berkeley: University of California, 1963. cat. no. 46, pl. II

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 66 archive.org

Palladino, Pia. Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. New Haven, CT: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2003. Reproduced: p. 106, fig. 22

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 276-277, no. 105

Exhibition history

The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, (October 22-December 2, 1962 (extended to Dec. 30)).

Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, University Art Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, (April 24-June 8, 1963).

The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 23-December 2, 1962).

Pages From Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (April 24-June 8, 1963).

Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).

When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).

Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).

Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008).

The Glory of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 2010-April 17, 2011).

Imagining the Garden. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2015-March 6, 2016).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1924.431|author=Stefano da Verona|year=1430–1438|access-date=23 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation

Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation

Stefano da Verona

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