The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2024

The Trinity:  Leaf from a Gradual with Initial B

The Trinity: Leaf from a Gradual with Initial B

c. 1496–1502

circle of Perugino

(Italian, c. 1450/55–1523)
Sheet: 78.7 x 53 cm (31 x 20 7/8 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

The focus of this lavishly illuminated page is a large initial B containing a representation of the Holy Trinity (three persons in one godhead). The text, Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas, introduces the opening of the Introit for Mass on Trinity Sunday, celebrated one week after Pentecost. An illusion has been created by the artist who painted the framing initial to appear three-dimensional. Beyond the initial a landscape recedes as if viewed through an open window. The decoration extends into all four margins that are filled with small miniatures depicting saints (one was left blank). This page is a masterful example of Renaissance manuscript painting with classicizing leaf scrolls, masks, urns, putti, and other decorative motifs fashionable in Italy at the close of the 15th century. It may come from a set of choir books illuminated for Perugia Cathedral.
  • Cathedral of Perugia (?)
    Cathedral of Perugia (?); [Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, New York]
  • Italian Choral Books of the Renaissance (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 10, 2015-December 12, 2016).
    The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-June 2, 2013).
    The Glory of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 2010-April 17, 2011).
    The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).
    Fliegel, Stephen N. The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. Published on the occasion of the exhibition "The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination" held 17 Feb to 2 June 2013 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, imprint of Prestel Publishing, 2013. Cat 5, pg 92-3.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, (11/06/2010 - 04/17/2011); "The Glory Of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collections"
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (02/17/2013 - 06/02/2013): "Caporali"
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 115): December 7, 2015 -
  • {{cite web|title=The Trinity: Leaf from a Gradual with Initial B|url=false|author=Perugino|year=c. 1496–1502|access-date=22 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.461