The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 26, 2023

Historiated Initial (A) Excised from a Gradual: Christ in Majesty with King David and Prophets

c. 1300–1340

Italy, Florence

(?)

Ink, tempera, and gold on parchment

Sheet: 28 x 24 cm (11 x 9 7/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1952.107

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Directly below the decorated initial is a line of music; the black squares are music notes sitting on a staff. During the Middle Ages the staff had only four lines, unlike today.

Description

This initial A probably refers to one of the most famous responses in Latin sung on the first Advent Sunday before Christmas: Aspiciens a longe et ecce video Dei potentiam venientem (I look from afar, and behold I see the power of God coming). With this song the physical presence of Christ in the world was celebrated. The leaf is probably taken from an antiphonary, a large liturgical book used by the choir for chanting. The style is reminiscent of Italian art during the 1200s and can be dated to the time before the Black Death.

Provenance
Dr. Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Strasbourg, France
?-1952
Dr. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1952-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
"Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1952." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 40, no. 6 (1953) p. 135 www.jstor.org
Ricci, Seymour de. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, Supplement. New York: Bibliographical Society, 1961.
Exhibition history

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

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.107