The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 25, 2024
Cutting from a Missal: Initial O with Christ Performing an Exorcism
c. 1520
(Italian)
Each leaf: 7.7 x 6.7 cm (3 1/16 x 2 5/8 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
This initial is probably the O beginning the Introit for the Third Sunday in Lent, Occuli mei semper ad Dominum (My eyes are ever towards the Lord). The Gospel reading from that Sunday tells the story of Christ casting out a demon. The artist's style is easily recognized in the facial features, and in the borders, in which he typically mixed still-life motifs, scattered small red and blue flowers, strawberries, and simulated pearls and jewels. Matteo's life dates are not known. His career probably began in Milan in the 1490s, but his name occurs in the accounts of the d'Este family at Ferrara from 1502 to 1512. The climax of Matteo's career was his activity in Rome, where he was apparently responsible for a number of luxury illuminated liturgical manuscripts. In 1520 he illuminated a missal for Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future Pope Clement VII (1523–34). The initial shown here comes from another missal that he must have illuminated around the same time. This missal was most probably in the Sistine Chapel sacristy when it was sacked by Napoleon's troops in 1798.- (all owners are known from shortly after the sacking of the Sistine Chapel sacristy by Napolean's troops in 1798 to the present):William Young Ottley (1771-1836) [his sale, Sotheby's, London, 11-12 May 1838, lot 50 (one of three miniatures)]; Robert S. Holford (1808-1892); Sir George Holford (1860-1926) [his sale, Sotheby's, London, 12 July 1927, lot 27]; G. Wells; A. R. H. Mann [his sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 April 1961, lot 77]; [Areade Gallery]; Philip Hofer; private collection, New York; Roger Wieck; [Bruce Ferrini, Akron]
- Fliegel, Stephen N. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 83, cat. no. 81; Reproduced: back cover archive.org
- The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 1999-February 27, 2000).CMA, 19 December 1999 - 27 February 2000, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, cat. 81, illus. p. 83.
- {{cite web|title=Cutting from a Missal: Initial O with Christ Performing an Exorcism|url=false|author=Matteo da Milano|year=c. 1520|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.135