Historiated Initial (A) Excised from a Gradual: Christ in Majesty with King David and Prophets (c. 1300–1340): Art, History and Details

Historiated Initial (A) Excised from a Gradual: Christ in Majesty with King David and Prophets (c. 1300–1340) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This initial A probably refers to one of the most famous responses in Latin sung on the first Advent Sunday before Christmas: Aspiciens a longe et ecce video Dei potentiam venientem (I look from afar, and behold I see the power of God coming). With this song the physical presence of Christ in the world was celebrated. The leaf is probably taken from an antiphonary, a large liturgical book used by the choir for chanting. The style is reminiscent of Italian art during the 1200s and can be dated to the time before the Black Death.

Object facts

• Title: Historiated Initial (A) Excised from a Gradual: Christ in Majesty with King David and Prophets
• Date: c. 1300–1340
• Culture: Italy, Florence (?)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
• Dimensions: Sheet: 28 x 24 cm (11 x 9 7/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1952.107

A detail from the museum

Directly below the decorated initial is a line of music; the black squares are music notes sitting on a staff. During the Middle Ages the staff had only four lines, unlike today.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1952." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 40, no. 6 (1953)
• Ricci, Seymour de. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, Supplement. New York: Bibliographical Society, 1961.

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.