Bifolium Excised from an Antiphonary: Initial D[ominus Iesus] with the Calling of Peter and Andrew (c. 1425–1450): Art, History and Details

Bifolium Excised from an Antiphonary: Initial D[ominus Iesus] with the Calling of Peter and Andrew (c. 1425–1450) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The event portrayed within this historiated initial comes from the Gospel of Saint Mark (1:16–18). It recounts the story of Jesus walking on the shore of the Sea of Galilee when he saw Simon [Peter] and his brother Andrew casting nets from their boat. Jesus called upon the brothers to become his followers. Departing from tradition, the illuminator has portrayed Christ beardless, perhaps to suggest the end of his private life. The rubrics (red explanatory notes) above and to the right of the initial read: In vigili sci Andree apli (“On the vigil of the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle”). The feast of Saint Andrew is celebrated on November 30; the vigil is November 29. The arms below are those of the Bolognese Cardinal Bassarione (1439–1472) who appears to have commissioned the manuscript for a convent in Bologna.

Object facts

• Title: Bifolium Excised from an Antiphonary: Initial D[ominus Iesus] with the Calling of Peter and Andrew
• Date: c. 1425–1450
• Culture: Italy, Lombardy (Milan?), 15th century
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Sheet: 56 x 41 cm (22 1/16 x 16 1/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1943.386

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William. "A Florentine Illumination." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 1 (January 1945): 5-7.
• Alexander, J. J. G. The Painted Book in Renaissance Italy: 1450-1600. New Haven: Yale University Press, 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.