Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Leaf from a Missal with Two Historiated Initials: Initial P[er omnia saecula saeculorum] (A Priest Celebrates Mass) and Initial V[ere dignum et iustum est] (Ecclesia and Synagogue)

c. 1300

France, Beauvais, late 13th-early 14th Century

Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Sheet: 28.5 x 20 cm (11 1/4 x 7 7/8 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Freudenheim in memory of Otto Ege 1982.141

Location

not on view

Description

This leaf and others are known to survive from a magnificent missal made for the use of Beauvais Cathedral. The two large decorated initials illustrate the preface to the Canon of the Mass.

Provenance

c. 1300

Robert de Hangest, Canon of Beauvais gave to the Beauvais Church, France

c. 1300-

Beauvais Church, France

(Sale: Sotheby's, 1926)

1926-1942

William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), Beverly Hills, CA

1942

[Sale: Gimbel Bros and Hammer Galleries, New York, NY, 1942, no. 480-4]

1942

Philip Duschnes, New York, NY, to Otto F. Ege

1942-1951

Otto F. Ege (1888–1951), Cleveland, OH, through inheritance to Mr. and Mrs. Milton Freudenheim

1951-1982

Mr. and Mrs. Milton Freudenheim, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1982-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, S. (1983). Year in Review for 1982. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 70(1). p.50, no.10 www.jstor.org

Fliegel, Stephen N. Resplendent Faith: Liturgical Treasuries of the Middle Ages. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2009. Pg. 27, fig. 21

Davis, Lisa Fagin. Beauvais Missal – Virtual Reconstruction Fragmentarium (Accessed May 2021). fragmentarium.ms

Davis, Lisa Fagin. Reconstructing the Beauvais Missal, (Accessed July 2022). brokenbooks2.omeka.net

Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art, (11/06/2010 - 04/17/2011); "The Glory Of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collections"

The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).

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).