Initial D: Saint Peter, cutting from an antiphonal

From the Getty Museum record

This striking cutting from a Christian service book made for Florence Cathedral features an image of Saint Peter wearing the papal tiara and garbed in the red robes of a martyr. Chosen by Jesus as a leader, Peter was regarded as the symbolic first pope of the Christian church. The artist, known as the Maestro Daddesco, was probably a member of the workshop of the preeminent Florentine panel painter Bernardo Daddi, a major illuminator in the first half of the fourteenth century in Florence. Experts have discerned Daddi’s influence in the almost sculptural treatment of the saint’s features, delineated in delicate shades of grey with highlights in pink for the cheeks. His pale pink glove stands out against the bright colors and curvilinear forms of the saint’s robes and tiara drawing attention to the oversized set of golden keys that symbolize entry into heaven.