Historiated initial L with the Adoration of the Shepherds, from a Gradual for the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano, Italy (Florence), 1392-1399.

Historiated initial L with Adoration of the Shepherds, in a cave.
Text: L [ux fulgebit hodie]; on verso [cuius] regni non e/[rit finis. Ps.] Dominus /regnavit, Introit to the Mass for Christmas morning
Staves of 4 red lines, 37 mm; square notation.

Made in Florence at the convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, for San Michele a Murano in Venice. Purchased on 22 June 1906 from Bernard Quaritch, together with twelve other cuttings from the same group of manuscripts (D.217 to 229-1906).
A duplicate number MS.967 was assigned to this object in error and was subsequently cancelled.

Seven fragments, whose date and place of acquisition are unknown, arrived at the South Kensington Museum by an early date; four (2868, 3045, 3074 and 3087) appear in a register recording the internal transfer from the Art Museum to the Library on 6 December 1863 of a group of 241 illuminations, and a further three are recorded in a similar transfer in 1874 (431, 432 and 434). The remaining thirteen cuttings (D.217 to 229-1906) were acquired on 22 June 1906 from Bernard Quaritch for a total cost of £60. Two of them depicting prophets were lost during the Second World War (D.220-1906 and D.223-1906).

Cuttings from the same set of graduals in the V&A collection: 431, 432, 434, 2868, 3045, 3074, 3087, D.217-1906, D.218-1906, D.219-1906, D.221-1906, D.222-1906, D.224-1906, D.225-1906, D.226-1906, D.227-1906, D.228-1906, D.229-1906.

This piece is part of a series of over fifty identified cuttings from two different graduals now distributed through various collections. Related cuttings are in: New York, Pierpont Morgan Library; Stockholm, National Museum; Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett; Paris, Musée Marmottan; Padua, Museo Civico; London, The British Library.

Made at the convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence.

D.229-1906