Script and Textual Contents
Description and Contents
The text on the reverse of the initials is in Latin, written in the rounded Italian type of Gothic bookhand (textualis).
Marlay cutting It. 13A: the initial S opened the Introit to the Mass for the feast of the Purification of the Virgin (2 February), beginning Suscepimus Deus misericordiam, originally on fol. 42 in Corale 2 (a Gradual). The Macro-XRF scan of the reverse reveals the fragmentary rubric, In purifi[catione] b[ea]tissime virgi[nis] Marie. cum can[delae] ceperint dari. In[tr]at cantor
MS 5-1979: the initial D opened the Introit to the Mass for the feast of St Clement (23 November), beginning Dicit dominus sermones mei, originally on fol. 159 in Corale 2 (a Gradual)
Marlay cutting It. 13.i: the initial L opened the responsory for the first lesson of Matins for the feast of St Laurence (10 August), beginning Levita Laurentius bonum operatus, originally on fol. 62 in Corale 19 (an Antiphoner). The fragmentary text on the reverse is from the versicle for the third lesson of the first nocturn at Matins for the feast of St Laurence, [Mea nox obscurum non habet, sed omnia in luce cl]arescunt. B[eate Laurenti martyr Christi intercede pro nobis.] In se[cundo nocturne]
Marlay cutting It. 13.ii: the initial I may have opened the Introit to the Mass for Easter Monday, beginning Introduxit vos Dominus in terram fluentem lac et mel, originally on fol. 19 in Corale 3 (a Gradual) or in another, lost Gradual. The isolated letters and notes on the reverse do not allow for a firm identification
Presentation in the Temple
Historiated initial S from a Gradual, 1370-1375
The initial S introduced the Mass for the feast of the Purification of the Virgin (2 February) in Corale 2, a Gradual made for the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence in 1370-1375. As in many medieval and Renaissance images, the Purification of the Virgin, indicated by the white dove in Joseph’s hands, is conflated with the Circumcision of Christ. Mary and Joseph have entrusted the infant Christ to Simeon and Anna, while the priest behind, knife in hand, is ready to perform the circumcision. Painted by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci, the image reveals his debt to Sienese painting. The model for the composition is Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s eponymous altarpiece completed in 1342 for the Crescentius Chapel in Siena Cathedral (now in the Uffizi, Florence). The tiled floor imparts a sense of depth to the pictorial space. The intricate designs on the haloes, each displaying a different pattern (hotspots 1 and 2), emulate the innovative punchwork of Sienese artists from the early 1300s.
Three different blue pigments were used in this image: most blue areas were painted with ultramarine, occasionally shaded with an organic red dye which yields a purplish hue, visible in the temple’s walls and in the folds of Anna’s mantle (hotspot 3). Ultramarine was also used for the blue leaves in the border, but azurite was added in the dark blue areas, and the leaves were outlined with indigo.
Related content: Initials from Choir Books
- Artists: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-1399)
- Texts and Images: Presentation in the Temple
- Description and Contents: Physical Description
- Description and Contents: Script and Textual Contents
- Artists' Materials: Differences in palette
- Artists' Materials: Selective use of egg yolk binder
- Artists' Techniques: Gold tooling
- Artists' Techniques: Painting the flesh