The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Leaf from a Gradual: Initial P with the Nativity

Leaf from a Gradual: Initial P with the Nativity

c. 1500
Location: not on view

Description

This beautiful initial P introduces the text Puer natus e[st] nobis, et filius datus est nobis (“For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us”) which marks the opening of the Introit for Christmas Day. The text, taken from Isaiah 9:6, continues, “. . . and his name shall be called Wonderful.” It is used to celebrate one of the most joyous events of the Christian Church—the birth of Christ. This splendid leaf from a manuscript gradual contains the chants used for solemn high Mass on Christmas Day. The initial P features sprays of foliage that emerge and migrate along three sides of the page. Painted by Attavante degli Attavanti, one of the most prominent Florentine illuminators of the late 15th century—whose patrons included Duke Federigo da Montefeltro of Urbino, King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, and the Medici Pope Leo X—the initial is characteristic of Attavante’s use of a bright, sunny palette. His miniatures often include detailed landscapes with receding vistas and sundrenched hills, townscapes, and ultramarine skies.
  • Alice Tully, New York; [Bruce Ferrini, Akron]
  • Fliegel, Stephen N. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 82, cat. no. 80 archive.org
    Alexander, J. J. G. The Painted Book in Renaissance Italy: 1450-1600. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Mention: p. 292, n. 100
  • Italian Choral Books of the Renaissance (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 10, 2015-December 12, 2016).
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 115): December 7, 2015 -
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 117): June 17, 2013 - January 14, 2014,
    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).
    Cleveland Museum of Art, (11/06/2010 - 04/17/2011); "The Glory Of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collections"
    Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (10/10/2004 - 10/02/2005); "Illuminated Manuscripts"
    The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 1999-February 27, 2000).
    CMA, 19 December 1999 - 27 February 2000, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, cat. 80, illus. p. 82.
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf from a Gradual: Initial P with the Nativity|url=false|author=Attavante degli Attavanti, Workshop|year=c. 1500|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.173