Leaf from an Antiphonary: Coronation of the Virgin (1400s): Art, History and Details

Leaf from an Antiphonary: Coronation of the Virgin (1400s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master of the Beffi Triptych (Italian, active 1390–1425).

The work and its context

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

The unidentified illuminator of this leaf is named after his work on a painted triptych that once hung behind the altar of the Church of Santa Maria del Ponte in the small village of Beffi in Abruzzo. Works by this illuminator are distinctive for their lively detail, highly expressive figures, and brilliant colors. In addition to panel paintings, this unknown artist also illuminated books and painted frescoes. The large scale of this miniature indicates that the leaf served as a frontispiece to a volume in a set of antiphonaries.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf from an Antiphonary: Coronation of the Virgin
• Date: 1400s
• Creator attribution: Master of the Beffi Triptych (Italian, active 1390–1425)
• Culture: Italy, Tuscany
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Sheet: 55 x 37 cm (21 5/8 x 14 9/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1953.24

A detail from the museum

Gold leaf was always applied to a manuscript before the paint.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.
• Wixom, William D. “A Missal for a King: A First Exhibition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 50, no. 7, 1963
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.