Initial A: Saint John the Baptist and the Messiah, cutting from a gradual

From the Getty Museum record

This ornate initial A once decorated the page of a gradual, a book containing the music for the Christian Mass. Graduals were often organized by the liturgical year; this image marked the music to be sung on the First Sunday of Advent (November 30), which included the chant beginning “Ad te levani” (to you I have lifted up my soul). The curious scene contained within the initial has been interpreted as either the Ascension, in which Christ rose to heaven, or the Pentecost with John the Baptist (who, being deceased at the time of the Pentecost, is represented with a golden halo). The Pentecost was the event in the Bible when the Holy Spirit, in the form of tongues of fire, descended upon Christ’s Apostles and imbued them with the ability to go forth and preach the Gospels in the many languages of the world. Stalwart figures, draped in voluminous robes, occupy the space enclosed by the lush tendrils of acanthus leaves coiling around bars and hiding grotesque figures. Despite the high quality of the illumination, the artist’s origins remain a mystery. Taking his name from the imagery on this leaf, the artist has been variously placed in Florence, Verona, and Perugia.