Initial S: Virgin Orans, leaf from a gradual

From the Getty Museum record

Painted in sober and pale tones, the figure of the Virgin Mary seems to step forward from the swirling forms and bright colors of the initial S that frames her. Her hands are raised in the orans position, (from the Latin “orare” meaning “to pray”). The leaf once graced a Christian choir book. Other leaves from same Franciscan manuscript have been identified from their similar unusual first lines of music, which feature lively musical notation executed in alternating squares of red and blue.