Initial S: Madonna and Child and a Procession of Lay Devotees, leaf from a gradual

From the Getty Museum record

The Christian figures of the Virgin and Child in the upper portion of this letter *S* both gesture with their proper right arms to reach out to and include the viewer, with Mary looking directly out of the composition. Below, a solemn procession of laypeople, including men and women, marches to the right towards the stairs that will lead them up to the Virgin and Child. The artist has cleverly utilized the rounded shape of the S to provide an illusionistic space for the staircase. Together, the holy figures and their devotees form a unique scene from this leaf that once graced a Christian choir book, atypical for the celebration of the feast of Pentecost (June 8) that the initial introduces.