Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation
![Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation by Stefano da Verona (Italian, c. 1375–1438)](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/cleveland/thumb/initial-m-issus-est-excised-from-an-antiphonary-the-cleveland-106349.webp)
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
sheet: 19.7 × 16.7 cm · framed: 52.4 × 39.7 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift from J. H. Wade
Accession Number
1924.431
Tags
male
About this artwork
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 as...