Fragment of an Antiphonary with Historiated Initial (S): The Stoning of St. Stephen (c. 1370–72): Art, History and Details

Fragment of an Antiphonary with Historiated Initial (S): The Stoning of St. Stephen (c. 1370–72) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nicolò da Bologna (Italian, c. 1325–1403).

The work and its context

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

Saint Stephen is honored as the Christian church's first martyr. The illuminator of this initial has crowded the scene of the saint's death within the interior space of the letter S. Stephen emerges from the lower curve as his tormentors hurl stones from above. The center curve of the letter passes between figures to suggest a barrier. The activity of the initial's artist, Nicolò da Bologna, is well documented in Bologna's archives. By the late 1380s he enjoyed the appointment of illuminator to the city. Nicolò and his workshop were frequently called upon to provide the decoration for a large number of corporate registers and statute books in the city, as well as liturgical books for Bologna's various churches.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of an Antiphonary with Historiated Initial (S): The Stoning of St. Stephen
• Date: c. 1370–72
• Creator attribution: Nicolò da Bologna (Italian, c. 1325–1403)
• Culture: Italy, Bologna
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
• Dimensions: Sheet: 33 x 33 cm (13 x 13 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1951.446

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Winter, Patrick M. de. “Bolognese Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 8 (October 1983): 314–351.

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.