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Initial A: Young Christ Blessing

Creator

Italian Illuminator · 1473–1430

Not content to establish his workshop in one location, manuscript illuminator Belbello da Pavia, also known as Luchino di Giovanni Belbello, traveled around northern Italy in the mid-fifteenth century working for many of the leading ruling families at the courts of Milan, Ferrara, and Mantua. He was expelled from Mantua in 1450 after having been convicted of a grave crime, and he eventually settle

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Date: about 1467–1470
Medium: Tempera and gold
Culture: Italian
Department: Manuscripts
Institution: Getty Museum

Christ appears in this initial as a youthful figure with round, rosy cheeks. He holds a book in his left hand and blesses with his right. The chant that follows is sung on the feast of the Epiphany--the day the three Magi visited the newborn Jesus. Depictions of Christ as an adolescent are relatively rare, and Epiphany chants are more often illustrated with scenes of the Adoration of the Magi. Here Christ appears in the guise of a young preacher who has already embraced the responsibilities of his adult life.

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