Three Cuttings from a Missal: Initial C with the Adoration of the Magi
Unknown Artist
c. 1470–1500
Medium
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Dimensions
9.4 × 8 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
Accession Number
1999.137.2
About this artwork
These three cuttings are illuminated in a style that is somewhat provincial and difficult to localize. The figures relate to late 15th-century German woodcut illustration, but also vaguely recall Franconian sculpture and Saxon painting. The figures are simply, though charmingly, sketched in heavy black ink with little attention to finesse of line or detail. The palette is confined to dark hues of red, blue, and ochre with flesh tones either left white or colored pink. The style hints at an origi...