Historiated initial OT prophet, Italy c.1320 (Emilia-Romagna)

A Prophet in a historiated initial ‘I’ on a cutting from a Gradual, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum  [Italy (Emilia-Romagna), early 14th century]

A cutting, c. 265 × 115 mm; with part of four lines of text in gothic script and music on four-line staves ruled in red, the painted initial ‘I’ c. 150 × 60 mm, depicting a full-length barefoot figure, probably an Old Testament prophet, probably illustrating the mass on the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, “Iu[stus es domine et rec]tum” (You are just and right, Lord), preceded by the Offertory “Domine in a[uxilium]” and the Communion “Domine me[morabor]”, the verso with part of the Verse “[Beat]a gens [cuius est dominus]”; only the incipits of these lesser texts are given, and in each case a superscript number in red Roman numerals directs the reader to the folio on which the full text may be found.

The style of illumination is unusual and difficult to localise with precision. The artist seems to be aware of the work of the late 13th-century Maestro di Imola, from whom he probably derived his palette, ornamental details, and perhaps even the manner of painting rather boneless figures (see especially the exceptionally thin wrists here), sometimes, as here, depicted as if hanging in mid-air like a ghost. There is also something of the Bolognese “primo stile”, supporting an origin in Emilia-Romagna. On the Maestro di Imola, see Fabrizio Lollini, in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: secoli IX–XVI, ed. by Milvia Bollati (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004), pp. 684–86; and for Bolognese illumination of the period, see Alessando Conti, La miniatura bolognese: scuole e botteghe 1270-1340 (Bologna: Nuova Alfa, 1981).