Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation (1430–1438): Art, History and Details

Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation (1430–1438) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Stefano da Verona (Italian, c. 1375–1438).

The work and its context

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

This masterful initial M, colorful and crowded with playful animals and fantastic forms, recalls the announcement to the Virgin Mary by the Angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a son: Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Miriam Virginem. . . . (The Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary. . . .), the response for the first Sunday in Advent. The decorated initial is related in style to a set of choir books made by Belbello for the Church of Saints Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Belbello's style has been associated with another artist, the Master of the Murano Gradual, with whom he possibly collaborated in Venice. Belbello's career placed him in Milan, Mantua, Pavia, and Venice. His services were highly sought after by Renaissance princes, and his style was influential and widespread in northern Italy.

Object facts

• Title: Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation
• Date: 1430–1438
• Creator attribution: Stefano da Verona (Italian, c. 1375–1438)
• Culture: Italy, Lombardy, 15th century
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Sheet: 19.7 x 16.7 cm (7 3/4 x 6 9/16 in.); Framed: 52.4 x 39.7 cm (20 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.); Matted: 48.9 x 36.2 cm (19 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1924.431

Collection credit

Gift from J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.). The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962, / B. [Baltimore, Md.]: Walters Art Gallery, 1962.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. A Missal for a King. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1963.

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.