Bifolio from a Gradual: Initial (G) with Christ, the Virgin, and Apostles and Initial (O) (recto) (c. 1300): Art, History and Details

Bifolio from a Gradual: Initial (G) with Christ, the Virgin, and Apostles and Initial (O) (recto) (c. 1300) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The large decorated initial G introduces the text, Gaudeamus omnes in Domino (Let us rejoice in the Lord). It is the beginning of the opening prayer, or introit, of the Mass for the Feast of All Saints (November 1). The figures within the initial include Christ, the Virgin Mary, and various saints.

Object facts

• Title: Bifolio from a Gradual: Initial (G) with Christ, the Virgin, and Apostles and Initial (O) (recto)
• Date: c. 1300
• Culture: Italy, Siena(?)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Sheet: 55.7 x 37.9 cm (21 15/16 x 14 15/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1950.391.a

A detail from the museum

Words written in red ink, called rubrics, indicate titles and chapter headings that are not part of a manuscript’s main text.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bollati, Milvia, and Miklós Boskovits. Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: secoli IX-XVI. Milano: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004.
• Freuler, Gaudenz. Ancora Sulla Miniatura sense dei secoli XIII-XV. Arte Cristiana XCVII (2009).
• Medica, Massimo, and Federica Toniolo. Le miniature della Fondazione Giorgio Cini: pagine, ritagli, manoscritti. 2016.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.