Leaf from a Psalter with Full Border with Medallions (Annunciation, SS. Jerome, Clare, Sebastian and Bernardino) and Historiated Initial (E): Virgin and Child Italy, Umbria or Tuscany, 15th century

Leaf from a Psalter with Full Border with Medallions (Annunciation, SS. Jerome, Clare, Sebastian and Bernardino) and Historiated Initial (E): Virgin and Child

1475

Italy, Umbria or Tuscany, 15th century

Sheet: 57 x 39 cm (22 7/16 x 15 3/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1953.642

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Did You Know?

Saint Bernardino, seen in the lower right, was a popular and much-venerated preacher from Siena.

Description

This leaf contains Psalm 67. The original full manuscript would have held all 150 psalms. Psalters like this were made in a large format for communal prayer. This leaf is richly adorned with an elaborate border with a historiated, or decorated, initial E showing the Madonna and Child. Around the border are Saint Jerome, Saint Clair, Saint Sebastian, and Saint Bernardino, a popular and much-venerated preacher from Siena, Italy. The bottom medallion depicts the Annunciation, or announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She is shown seated, reading from a book of hours.