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Leaf from a Gradual for the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano

Manuscript Cutting
1392 -1399 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Leaf with a 2-line historiated initial D with Nativity; border decorated with floral motifs and a peacock. This initial introduces the first Mass for Christmas morning.
Rubric: In Nocte Nativitatis domini, Introitus. Dominus di/[xit ad me Filius meus], Introit for the first Mass for Christmas morning
6 lines of music (staves of 4 red lines, 37 mm); square notation
Original foliation in red ink at the top of the page: XXXII

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleLeaf from a Gradual for the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano
Materials and techniques
Water-based pigment, gold leaf and ink on parchment
Brief description
Leaf with historiated initial D showing the Nativity, from a Gradual for the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano, Italy (Florence), 1392-1399.
Physical description
Leaf with a 2-line historiated initial D with Nativity; border decorated with floral motifs and a peacock. This initial introduces the first Mass for Christmas morning.
Rubric: In Nocte Nativitatis domini, Introitus. Dominus di/[xit ad me Filius meus], Introit for the first Mass for Christmas morning
6 lines of music (staves of 4 red lines, 37 mm); square notation
Original foliation in red ink at the top of the page: XXXII
Dimensions
  • Text block height: 425mm
  • Text block width: 280mm
  • Stave height: 37mm
Production typeUnique
Object history
Made in Florence at the convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, for San Michele a Murano in Venice. Bought before 1863 when it was transferred from the Art Museum.
A duplicate number MS.966 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 228-1906) 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.
Production
Made at the convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence.
Bibliographic references
  • Catalogue of illuminated manuscripts : Part II, Miniatures, leaves, and cuttings, by S.C. Cockerell and E.F. Strange (London: HMSO, 1908, 1st edition). p. 85.
  • 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. 77-78 (as Siena, 15th century).
  • George R. Bent, 'The Scriptorium at S. Maria degli Angeli and Fourteenth Century Manuscript Illumination: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci, Don Lorenzo Monaco, and Giovanni del Biondo', in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 55. Bd., H. 4 (1992), pp. 507-523.
  • Mirella Levi d'Ancona, The reconstructed "Diurno Domenicale" from Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence: Centro Di, 1993. pp. 29, 49, 55.
  • Kanter, L., B.D. Boehm et al. Painting and illumination in early Renaissance Florence, 1300-1450. New York, 1994. pp. 155-176.
  • Watson, Rowan. Vandals and Enthusiasts: Views of Illumination in the Nineteenth Century, London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1995 no. 6.
  • Gaudenz Freuler, Tendencies of Gothic in Florence: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (Florence: Giunti, 1997). pp. 453-521 (esp. pp. 475-486).
  • Watson, R. Illuminated manuscripts and their makers. An account based on the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. London, 2003. p. 92.
  • Catalogue of the circulating collection of illuminated manuscript leaves and cuttings selected from the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, intro. by E.F. Strange, London: HMSO, 1908.
Other number
966 - Cancelled number
Collection
Accession number
3074

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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