Instructions to artists

Artists' Techniques

The Missal preserves sixteen instructions for the artists written in Italian on pages with historiated initials (fols. 12v, 16r, 16v, 71v, 75v, 81v, 86v, 90r, 225v, 226v, 228r, 231r, 234r, 244r, 249v, 252v).

Thirteen were penned in ink by the same hand beside initials painted by different artists. The other three were written in faint metal point in the upper margins of pages with initials by the same artist (fols. 244r, 249v, 252v). Erasures beside other initials suggest that there may have been more instructions originally. The instructions demonstrate the meticulous planning of the Missal’s production, down to visual details of liturgical significance. They also reveal that the artists were accomplished professionals who needed only a prompt as to the subject matter, but were entrusted to choose their preferred compositions and design their own images.