The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Leaf from an Antiphonary: Historiated Initial P with the Prophet Samuel; Arms of the Visconti Family and the Olivetan Order

Leaf from an Antiphonary: Historiated Initial P with the Prophet Samuel; Arms of the Visconti Family and the Olivetan Order

c. 1439–47
(Italian)
Italy, Milan
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Each leaf: 59.3 x 42.7 cm (23 3/8 x 16 13/16 in.)
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection 1999.131
Location: not on view

Description

This leaf is distinguished by a large initial P depicting Samuel, the last and one of the greatest of Israel’s judges. It introduces the text Preparte corda vestra domino et servite (“Prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve”). In the lower margin are the arms of the Visconti family, rulers of Milan, featuring an eagle (left) and a coiled serpent (right). At bottom center is the emblem of the Olivetan Order, a reformed branch of the Benedictines founded in 1319 known as the “white monks.” The Olivetan monastery in Milan was founded in 1400 and it appears that this leaf belonged to a set of choral books presented to the monastery by one of the Visconti, perhaps about 1439–47. The so-called Olivetan Master takes his name from a luxuriously illustrated psalter made for the order’s monastery in Milan, where he was undoubtedly a monk.
  • [Bruce Ferrini, Akron, OH, sold to Ms. Jeanne Miles Blackburn]
    -1999
    Ms. Jeanne Miles Blackburn, Maitland, Fl, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1999-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ricci, Seymour de, William Jerome Wilson, Anne M. Nill, and W. H. Bond. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. 1935. II, p. 2210
    Stones, Alison, "An Italian Miniature in the Gabier-Parry Collection," Burlington Magazine 111 (1969). 7-12, figs. 6-12
    Toesca, Ilaria, "In margine al Magister Vitae Imperatorum," Paragone (1969). pp. 73-77
    National Gallery of Art (U.S.), Carl Nordenfalk, Lessing J. Rosenwald, and Edith Goodkind Rosenwald. Medieval & Renaissance Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art: [Catalogue]. [Washington]: The Gallery, 1975. pp. 61-65, cat. no. 19
    Todini, Filippo, and Milvia Bollati. Una collezione di miniature italiane: dal Duecento al Cinquecento : catalogo. Milano: Studio Nella Longari, 1993. Pt. I, pp. 56-59
    Fliegel, Stephen N. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 76, cat. no. 74 archive.org
    Bollati, Milvia, Olivetan Master, and Master of the Lodi Choir Books. The Olivetan Gradual: Its Place in Fifteenth-Century Lombard Manuscript Illumination. London: Sam Fogg, 2008. p. 12, fig. 2
    Bollati, Milvia, Olivetan Master, and Master of the Lodi Choir Books. The Olivetan Gradual: Its Place in Fifteenth-Century Lombard Manuscript Illumination. London: Sam Fogg, 2008.
  • 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 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).
    Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).
    The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 1999-February 27, 2000).
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf from an Antiphonary: Historiated Initial P with the Prophet Samuel; Arms of the Visconti Family and the Olivetan Order|url=false|author=Olivetan Master|year=c. 1439–47|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.131