The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation

Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation

1430–1438
(Italian, c. 1375–1438)
Italy, Lombardy, 15th century
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Sheet: 19.7 x 16.7 cm (7 3/4 x 6 9/16 in.); Framed: 52.4 x 39.7 cm (20 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.); Matted: 48.9 x 36.2 cm (19 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.)
Gift from J. H. Wade 1924.431
Location: not on view

Description

This masterful initial M, colorful and crowded with playful animals and fantastic forms, recalls the announcement to the Virgin Mary by the Angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a son: Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Miriam Virginem. . . . (The Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary. . . .), the response for the first Sunday in Advent. The decorated initial is related in style to a set of choir books made by Belbello for the Church of Saints Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Belbello's style has been associated with another artist, the Master of the Murano Gradual, with whom he possibly collaborated in Venice. Belbello's career placed him in Milan, Mantua, Pavia, and Venice. His services were highly sought after by Renaissance princes, and his style was influential and widespread in northern Italy.
  • Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
    W. Y. Ottley (his sale London, 11 May 1838, lot 41)
    Durlacher Bros., New York
    Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice; W.Y. Ottley (his sale London, 11 May 1838, lot 41); (Durlacher Bros., New York)
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 213 archive.org
    Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.). The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962, / B. [Baltimore, Md.]: Walters Art Gallery, 1962. cat. no. 76
    Cleveland Museum of Art. A Missal for a King. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1963. no. 67 archive.org
    Milliken, William Mathewson. Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the Early XVIth Centuries: An Exhibition. Berkeley: University of California, 1963. cat. no. 46, pl. II
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 60 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 66 archive.org
    Palladino, Pia. Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. New Haven, CT: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2003. Reproduced: p. 106, fig. 22
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 276-277, no. 105
  • Imagining the Garden. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2015-March 6, 2016).
    The Glory of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 2010-April 17, 2011).
    Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008).
    Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).
    The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982).
    Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).
    Pages From Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (April 24-June 8, 1963).
    Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, University Art Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, (April 24-June 8, 1963).
    The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 23-December 2, 1962).
    The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, (October 22-December 2, 1962 (extended to Dec. 30)).
  • {{cite web|title=Initial M[issus est] Excised from an Antiphonary: The Annunciation|url=false|author=Stefano da Verona|year=1430–1438|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.431