Accession Number
1986/2.85

Title
Leaf from a Gradual with St. Lawrence

Artist(s)
Ludovico de Gaci

Object Creation Date
1489

Medium & Support
ink, tempera and gold on parchment

Dimensions
22 7/16 x 15 7/8 in. (56.9 x 40.2 cm);28 1/8 x 22 3/16 in. (71.4 x 56.2 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Ann and Leonard Eaton in appreciation for the excellent teaching of Ilene Forsyth and Marvin Eisenberg

Label copy
March 28, 2009
On the back of this manuscript leaf, Ludovico de Gaci notes that he both wrote and illustrated the choir book from which the leaf was later taken. He records that he completed the work on April 10, 1489, for Franciscus de Bolzano, a Franciscan friar, for use in the convent of Belluno located in the Italian Alps. On the front of the page, de Gaci painted Saint Lawrence standing in a verdant landscape, resting his hand upon the grill on which he was roasted to death and holding a palm leaf that signifies his martyrdom. The brilliantly colored illustration set within a gold frame marks the beginning of the music that opened the mass held every August 10th to commemorate Saint Lawrence’s death.

Subject matter
This manuscript page comes from a gradual, or choir book, used for the performance of the Catholic mass. The haloed figure standing in a verdant landscape at the top of the page is St. Lawrence, holding the grill on which he was roasted to death and the palm leaf that signified his martrydom. The music that accompanies this miniature painting was sung at the opening of the mass held every August 10th to commemorate his death. The verso contains a scribal inscription or colophon in which the Ludovico de Gaci, who both wrote and illuminated the manuscript, gives his name, the date 10 April 1489 when the work was completed, and the name of the patron, the Franciscan friar Franciscus de Bolzano.

Physical Description
This leaf from a manuscript contains seven lines of Latin text with musical notation. The initial letter, "C," of the opening word "Confessio" is made from a curved vegetal form. The text is preceded by a painted miniature in a circular frame that is, in turn, enclosed by a golden square. The miniature depicts a man with a tonsure and a golden halo standing in a verdant landscape. He holds a palm leaf in his left hand and rests his right hand on a grill. The left and upper margins of the page are decorated with green and pink leaves and flowers and small gold circles.

Primary Object Classification
-

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
Christianity
choirbooks
grilles (barrier elements)
manuscripts (document genre)