Leaf from a Missal with a historiated initial I with St Luke the Evangelist, Umbria, ca.1320-1330.

Leaf from a Missal probably made in Umbria in ca. mid-late 14th century. Double-sided. Text written in black ink in Southern Gothic textualis script with red rubrics (a title, chapter heading, or instruction that is not strictly part of the text but helps to identify it). Colour pigments, gold leaf, and ink.

This leaf introduces the text from the Gospel of Luke used during Passion week (the liturgical period leading up to Easter Sunday that remembers Christ's suffering).

Two columns of text with a historiated initial on the left column. Delicate foliate acanthus leaves comprise the marginalia (writing or decoration in the margins of a manuscript) which extends upwards and extends downwards from the initial into the bas-de-page (bottom of the page).

Unique

Part of a group of 'illuminations' bought from Spithower in Rome on 18 December 1860 (now Museum nos 1487-1537).
Cuttings from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: Museum nos 1489, 1490, 1491, 1492, 1493, 1494, 1495.

This leaf (cutting) is from an Italian Missal (a service book containing the texts necessary for the performance of the Mass). It contains a historiated initial (an initial with a recognizable figure of scene contained within) 'I' with a portrait of St. Luke the Evangelist.

1495