The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Leaf from a Psalter with Full Border with Medallions (Annunciation, SS. Jerome, Clare, Sebastian and Bernardino) and Historiated Initial (E): Virgin and Child

1475

Italy, Umbria or Tuscany, 15th century

ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
Sheet: 57 x 39 cm (22 7/16 x 15 3/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1953.642
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Saint Bernardino, seen in the lower right, was a popular and much-venerated preacher from Siena.

Description

This leaf contains Psalm 67. The original full manuscript would have held all 150 psalms. Psalters like this were made in a large format for communal prayer. This leaf is richly adorned with an elaborate border with a historiated, or decorated, initial E showing the Madonna and Child. Around the border are Saint Jerome, Saint Clair, Saint Sebastian, and Saint Bernardino, a popular and much-venerated preacher from Siena, Italy. The bottom medallion depicts the Annunciation, or announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She is shown seated, reading from a book of hours.
  • -1952
    Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
    1953-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
  • Ricci, Seymour de. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, Supplement. New York: Bibliographical Society, 1961.
  • Liturgical Textiles and Manuscripts from Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy (Manuscript and Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 5, 2018-December 2, 2019).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf from a Psalter with Full Border with Medallions (Annunciation, SS. Jerome, Clare, Sebastian and Bernardino) and Historiated Initial (E): Virgin and Child|url=false|author=|year=1475|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.642