Leaf from an Antiphonary: Initial H with the Nativity (recto) and Text (verso)
Unknown Artist
c. 1480
Medium
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Dimensions
62.5 × 41 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
Accession Number
2014.25
About this artwork
The border ornament and initial design of this leaf have stylistic affinities with South German illumination of the late 1400s and particularly with the Augsburg workshops. It survives along with two known sister leaves with textual and illustrative references to Saint Clare. This saint was widely venerated during the Middle Ages and is closely associated with Saint Francis who installed her with a group of nuns in a community at Assisi. Francis prescribed an austere way of life for the nuns who...