The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Historiated Initial (P) Excised from a Choral Book: St. Michael and the Dragon

early 1200s

North Italy, Lombardy, 13th century

ink and tempera on parchment
Sheet: 16 x 10 cm (6 5/16 x 3 15/16 in.)
Gift from J. H. Wade 1924.1009
Location: Not on view

Description

The Archangel Michael was traditionally held to be the protector of souls. His intercessionary and protective role is connoted by his combat with and subjugation of the dragon as related in the Apocalypse of St. John the Evangelist. The present initial F is a type known as an "inhabited" initial. Here, the initial serves as a frame providing a display area for figural representation within.
  • -1922
    Durlacher Brothers, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1924-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • W. M. M. "Illuminated Miniatures in the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 12, no. 4 (1925). p. 63 www.jstor.org
    Ricci, Seymour de, William Jerome Wilson, Anne M. Nill, and W. H. Bond. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. 1935. Vol. 2, p. 1929
  • The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
  • {{cite web|title=Historiated Initial (P) Excised from a Choral Book: St. Michael and the Dragon|url=false|author=|year=early 1200s|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.1009