id: 109284 accession number: 1927.425.2.b share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1927.425.2.b updated: 2023-03-04 09:29:40.166000 Leaf from a Gradual: Decorated Initial (verso), c. 1480. Jacopo Filippo d' Argenta (Italian, 1501). Ink, tempera, and gold on parchment; sheet: 77 x 52 cm (30 5/16 x 20 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1927.425.2.b title: Leaf from a Gradual: Decorated Initial (verso) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1480 creation date earliest: 1475 creation date latest: 1485 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, Ferrara, 15th century technique: ink, tempera, and gold on parchment department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations type: Manuscript find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Jacopo Filippo d' Argenta (Italian, 1501) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 77 x 52 cm (30 5/16 x 20 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Giovanni Pinni, Florence date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This leaf was excised from a volume of a large set of choral books known to have been commissioned by Bartolomeo delle Rovere for Ferrara Cathedral. Delle Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, was the Bishop of Ferrara from 1474 to 1494 and his arms appear in the rondel at the bottom of the page-a shield bearing an oak tree (rovere in Italian) surmounted by a patriarchal cross, the symbol of his rank and authority. Payment records indicate that Argenta worked on the choir books for Ferrara Cathedral from 1478 to 1486. The large historiated initial R dominates the extensive decoration including a realistically painted scene in which a priest (center) surrounded by acolytes stands over the body of the deceased as he reads the Office of the Dead. The ceremony takes place within a vaulted chapel that recedes in space to create the illusion of perspective. This leaf and the one to the right are from the same set of choir books. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 210 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n48 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1927.425.2.b/1927.425.2.b_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1927.425.2.b/1927.425.2.b_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1927.425.2.b/1927.425.2.b_full.tif