Getty Museum
Initial A: Christ in Majesty
Creator
Master of GeronaItalian Illuminator · 1300–present
All works by this person →The anonymous Master of Gerona, who derives his name from his work on the illuminations in a Bible now in Gerona, Spain, was deeply influenced by Byzantine icon painting. In particular, like many of his Italian contemporaries, he was interested in the convincing depiction of three-dimensional objects in space, one of the innovative trends that led to the later Italian Renaissance style. The Master
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- late 13th century
- Medium
- Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Manuscripts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 74f5669d-017e-4348-ac5a-6d6a52f9988e
From the Getty Museum record
A historiated initial *A* with Christ in Majesty, the first and largest illumination in this antiphonal from Bologna, accompanies a chant for the pre-dawn prayer service for the first Sunday in Advent, the season of preparation for Christmas. In the chant the singer describes how he "sees the coming power of the Lord," referring to Christ's return at the end of time, when he will sit in judgment of all humanity. From the roundel at the lower left, the prophet Isaiah, whose words provided the inspiration for the text of the chant, "sees" Christ. The illuminator has depicted Jesus as a massive, authoritative figure in voluminous draperies, sitting frontally on an ivory throne and attended by a group of winged angels. The book he holds, the Book of Life mentioned in the Apocalypse in the New Testament, contains a list of the saved and the damned.
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