Original leaf from a Medieval Missal. 13 lines of text, written in black ink in gothic rotunda script on animal parchment. (290 x 207mm – 11 3/8 x 8 1/8’’)
Large initials alternately in burnished gold with fine violet penwork and deep blue with red penwork all extending into the margins. Some ink burn through evident.
Italy, c. 1475.
The large illuminated “S” continues the Litany of the Saints (first prescribed by Pope Gregory in 590 for a public thanksgiving following a plague that ravaged Rome). Names of saints are listed with each invocation followed by the abbreviation for “ora pro nobis” (Pray for us). Among the saints listed are: Sts. Bernard (patron of beekeepers), Mary Magdalene - twice (patron of repentant sinners), Agnes (patron of betrothed couples), Agatha (patron of bell-founders), Catherine (patron of Italy), and Barbara (patron of architects).
Provenance: ex-collection Otto F. Ege - Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art & Lecturer on History of the Book in the School of Library Science, Western Reserve University (Reference Gwara Handlist HL-110).
Presented in an archival 16 x 12'' mat
