Initial G[audeamus omnes] from a Gradual: The Court of Heaven
![Initial G[audeamus omnes] from a Gradual: The Court of Heaven by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (Italian, 1339–1399)](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/cleveland/thumb/initial-g-audeamus-omnes-from-a-gradual-the-court-of-cleveland-111528.webp)
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
sheet: 38.6 × 36.5 cm · framed: 68.9 × 53 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1930.105
Tags
male
About this artwork
This elegant and colorful initial G comes from a multivolume set of choral books illuminated by Don Silvestro, a Camaldolese monk, for his monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence. In the original book, this initial would have introduced the text: Gaudeamus omnes in Domino (“Let us rejoice in the Lord”), the beginning of Introit, the introduction, for the Feast of All Saints on November 1. This beautiful initial is generally considered to be the artist’s masterpiece.