Getty Museum

Inhabited Initial Q

Date

1153

Medium

Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, and ink

Culture

Italian

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

A large ornamental *Q* opens the hymn for the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, *Quis possit amplio famine p[rae]potens* [Who can be powerful by great poverty?] in this breviary from Montecassino. The illuminator chose to render this letter in a blue and gold design similar to that of contemporary textiles. This rich yet sober handling contrasts with the multiple vivid colors and the more tangled, frenzied, three-dimensional interlaces and biting dogs in the manuscript's other initials. The artist gives life to the letter *Q* by rendering it as a vine scroll with winding tendrils and lots of leaves. Animals, birds, and two men cavort among the branches. The *Q* 's delicate feathery tail, formed by a peacock whose head is caught by the vines, counters the design's symmetry.

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