Pair of Graduals: Initial (M) with St. Andrew (recto) and Mass for the Dead (recto) (c. 1480): Art, History and Details

Pair of Graduals: Initial (M) with St. Andrew (recto) and Mass for the Dead (recto) (c. 1480) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jacopo Filippo d' Argenta (Italian, 1501).

The work and its context

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

This leaf was excised from a volume of a large set of choral books known to have been commissioned by Bartolomeo delle Rovere for Ferrara Cathedral. Delle Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, was the Bishop of Ferrara from 1474 to 1494 and his arms appear in the rondel at the bottom of the page-a shield bearing an oak tree (rovere in Italian) surmounted by a patriarchal cross, the symbol of his rank and authority. Payment records indicate that Argenta worked on the choir books for Ferrara Cathedral from 1478 to 1486. The initial M introduces the chant for the Introit (introduction) to the mass for the Feast of Saint Andrew, celebrated on November 30th. This date also marks the beginning of the Advent season (leading to Christmas) in the liturgical calendar.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Graduals: Initial (M) with St. Andrew (recto) and Mass for the Dead (recto)
• Date: c. 1480
• Creator attribution: Jacopo Filippo d' Argenta (Italian, 1501)
• Culture: Italy, Ferrara, 15th century
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
• Dimensions: Sheet: 77 x 52 cm (30 5/16 x 20 1/2 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1927.425

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.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

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.