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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case I, Shelf 25

Leaf from a Dominican Gradual

Manuscript Cutting
ca. 1330 (made)
Place of origin

This is a page from a Gradual. The Gradual contained the musical parts of the Missal, the book containing the services of the Mass. The initial A is historiated (that is, with a figurative picture, istoire being the term for a story). It shows the Annunciation, in which the Angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary to announce the birth of Jesus Christ. In the outer margin an angel holds a scroll bearing an inscription, 'gift of Katerina of Gouda and Maria Ursi, nuns'. Around the borders of the page are birds, a butterfly and grotesque figures.

From the last decades of the 13th century, it was common for the ornament that framed the text to be inhabited by regiments of grotesque figures. These were half-man and half-beast. They were depicted alongside animals and birds that were realistically represented. Interspersed among the birds and animals were dragons' bodies and grotesque faces. Occasionally, there is a link between the grotesques and the text, but often there seems little more than incongruous romping. This choirbook was made for a community of Dominican nuns. Female grotesques playing musical instruments are shown under the praying figures of the nuns.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleLeaf from a Dominican Gradual
Materials and techniques
Water-based pigments, gilding and ink on parchment
Brief description
Leaf with historiated initial 'A' showing the Annunciation and, in the lower register, some Dominican nuns, from a Dominican Gradual, Netherlands, c.1330.
Physical description
Recto: [1st Sunday in Advent]
Historiated initial 'A' showing the Annunciation and, in the lower register, some Dominican nuns. In the outer margin an angel holds a scroll bearing a Latin inscription, inscribed 'Soror Katerina Gandensis et soror Maria ursi dederunt istum librum' ('Sister Katerina of Ghent and sister Maria Ursi gave this book'). Around the borders of the page are birds, a butterfly and grotesque figures.
Dimensions
  • Height: 18 1/4in
  • Width: 13in
  • Height: 47cm
  • Width: 32.2cm
Second set of dimensions taken from: Edge, Kevin. The Art of Selling Songs : Graphics for the Music Business, 1690-1990. London : Futures Publications, c.1991.
Production typeUnique
Object history
Part of cuttings purchased in batches from William Henry James Weale in 1883, 95 on 9 April 1883, 258 on 17 April 1883, 20 on 20 February, for the total sum of £96.7.2 (now Museum nos 8972-9042).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a page from a Gradual. The Gradual contained the musical parts of the Missal, the book containing the services of the Mass. The initial A is historiated (that is, with a figurative picture, istoire being the term for a story). It shows the Annunciation, in which the Angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary to announce the birth of Jesus Christ. In the outer margin an angel holds a scroll bearing an inscription, 'gift of Katerina of Gouda and Maria Ursi, nuns'. Around the borders of the page are birds, a butterfly and grotesque figures.

From the last decades of the 13th century, it was common for the ornament that framed the text to be inhabited by regiments of grotesque figures. These were half-man and half-beast. They were depicted alongside animals and birds that were realistically represented. Interspersed among the birds and animals were dragons' bodies and grotesque faces. Occasionally, there is a link between the grotesques and the text, but often there seems little more than incongruous romping. This choirbook was made for a community of Dominican nuns. Female grotesques playing musical instruments are shown under the praying figures of the nuns.
Bibliographic references
  • Edge, Kevin. The Art of Selling Songs : Graphics for the Music Business, 1690-1990. London : Futures Publications, c.1991.
  • Catalogue of Miniatures, Leaves, and Cuttings from Illuminated Manuscripts. Victoria and Albert Museum. Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, by S.C. Cockerell and C. Harcourt Smith (London: HMSO, 1923, 2nd edition). pp. 8-9.
Collection
Accession number
8992

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Record createdFebruary 26, 2004
Record URL
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