Getty Museum
Missal
Creator
Matteo da MilanoItalian Illuminator · 1492–1523
All works by this person →Matteo da Milano was one of the most important Italian illuminators working in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries. Originally from Milan, Matteo worked largely in Rome and Ferrara. His wide range of powerful patrons included the Este family of Ferrara, the Medici of Florence, the Orsini of Rome, and the della Rovere, dukes of Urbino. He specialized in making manuscripts for highly ra
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1520
- Medium
- Tempera, gold, and ink
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Manuscripts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
This missal (a book containing the necessary texts for the celebration of mass) is illuminated with four large historiated initials and lavish decorated borders filled with cameos, gems, flowers, and hybrid creatures. The painting in the manuscript is both technically precise and conceptually playful. The figures inhabiting the initials have the minutely rendered details of manuscript illumination while still asserting a monumental presence. The border elements are as creative as the finest Italian manuscripts, executed with a wit that leaves the viewer wondering where the observation of nature leaves off and artifice begins. The manuscript's artist, Matteo da Milano, was known for his lively, colorful palette, robust modeling, and a penchant for exotic details of costume. He was among the most important and successful artists of the beginning of the 1500s in Rome. This manuscript was commissioned by a member of the powerful Orsini family, which can be determined by the appearance in the borders of the Orsini arms and the device of little bears ( *orsini* in Italian).
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