The Caporali Missal

Called a missal, this manuscript served as a liturgical service book used by the priest at the altar during Mass. According to a colophon, an inscription on folio 400, the missal was made for the Franciscan church of San Francesco in Montone, near Perugia in the region of Umbria, in 1469. It was illuminated by Bartolomeo and Giapeco Caporali, two artist brothers who collaborated on the page decorations. The missal is opened here to the volume’s masterpiece, a two-page deluxe opening to the Canon of the Mass with a Calvary scene. The Canon introduces the most solemn part of the Mass during which the priest elevates and consecrates the Eucharistic bread and wine. Saint Francis kneels at the foot of the cross, attesting to the missal’s Franciscan use and affiliation.

An open book spread features a tempera painting of the Crucifixion on our left. Against a blue sky, Christ hangs on a cross flanked by Mary and John with a kneeling friar below, all with light skin tones. On our right, a large initial T is filled with colorful vines and winged figures. Intricate, multicolored borders frame both pages. Latin text below reads in part, "TE IGITUR CLEMENTISSIME PATER."

The Caporali Missal

1469

Bartolommeo Caporali, Giapeco Caporali

(Italian, c. 1420–1503), (Italian, d. 1478)

Italy, Perugia

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