Leaf from a Missal with a hsitoriated initial I with St John 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. Colour pigments, gold leaf, and ink.

This leaf introduces the text from the Gospel of John 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 upper left column. Delicate foliate acanthus leaves comprise the marginalia (writing or decoration in the margins of a manuscript) which extends upwards and across the upper border and extends downwards from the initial.

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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 the figure of St. John the Evangelist.

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