The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Gradual

Gradual

c. 1520
(Italian, 1474–1555)
Codex: 51.1 x 35.6 x 8.9 cm (20 1/8 x 14 x 3 1/2 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Girolamo dai Libri was only 16 years old when he painted his first altarpiece.

Description

The liturgical book known simply as a “gradual” was the principal choir book used during the Mass. They were produced in multiple volumes, sometimes as many as 12, in order to cover the entire liturgical year. Every church required a set of graduals in addition to other liturgical books such as missals, antiphonaries, and gospel lectionaries. This volume appears to be the lone survivor from a larger set. Its illuminations were painted by an illuminator working in the circle of the much-esteemed and highly imitated painter Girolamo dai Libri of Verona, who was a prolific painter of altarpieces as well as illuminations for books.
  • -1921
    Guido Minerbi and Co., Venice, Italy, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1921-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Liturgical Textiles and Manuscripts from Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy (Manuscript and Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 5, 2018-December 2, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Gradual|url=false|author=Girolamo dai Libri|year=c. 1520|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1921.140