
Cleveland Museum of Art
Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial R: The Resurrection (recto)
- Date
- mid-1300s
- Medium
- ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
- Culture
- Italy, Naples
- Department
- Medieval Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 423574
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
This leaf was taken from a gradual, a large volume containing songs for the mass. This single leaf shows the introductory passage for Easter Sunday. The initial R is filled with the representation of the resurrection of Christ. The depiction of Saint Francis of Assisi in the floral decoration points to an origin from a Franciscan monastery. Due to the great plague, the mendicant orders to which the Franciscans belonged were the recipients of civil charitable donations. Naples, where the leaf is said to have been made, was struck by a severe earthquake around the middle of the 1300s, in addition to the plague. The Virgin Mary is shown twice on this leaf, once at the top standing to the side of the open tomb and again in the bottom border, crowned and holding the infant Christ.
The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Provenance
- ?-1954: Vittorio Forti, Rome, Italy, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1954-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.

Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial R: The Resurrection (recto) and Initial D (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#131367

Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial R: Initial D (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#423575

Leaf from the Wettinger Gradual: Historiated Initial (I) with Scenes from the Life of St. Augustine
Cleveland Museum of Art
#126809

Leaf from a Gradual: Initial (R) with Mass for the Dead (recto)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#109283

Historiated Initial from a Gradual
Getty Museum
#d0066572-3987-43db-b852-9ea798d6612a

Leaf from a Gradual: Decorated Initial (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#109284
![Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial S[alve Sancta Parens] with Birth of the Virgin (recto)](https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.132.a/1999.132.a_web.jpg)
Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial S[alve Sancta Parens] with Birth of the Virgin (recto)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#160824

Historiated Initial from a Gradual
Getty Museum
#496eeca0-018f-48fb-8e16-a41ef4746f17

Leaf from a Gradual: Initial (M) with St. Andrew (recto)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#109281
![Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial S[alve Sancta Parens] with Birth of the Virgin (recto) and Music (verso)](https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.132/1999.132_web.jpg)
Leaf from a Gradual: Historiated Initial S[alve Sancta Parens] with Birth of the Virgin (recto) and Music (verso)
Cleveland Museum of Art
#160823

Leaf from a Gradual with Historiated Initial (M): Saints Peter and Andrew
Cleveland Museum of Art
#130312

Leaf from a Gradual: Initial (R) with the Three Marys at the Tomb and "Noli me Tangere"
Cleveland Museum of Art
#133419