Getty Museum

Cutting from an antiphonal

Date

early 16th century

Medium

Tempera and gold leaf

Culture

Italian

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

This initial *E* showing the Christian saint John the Evangelist likely once belonged to a volume that was part of a set of twenty choir books from the Olivetan monastery of Ss. Angelo e Nicolò at Villanova Sillaro at Lodi near Milan. Also known as John the Apostle, medieval Christians believed him to be not only the author of the biblical Gospel of John, but also the Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. According to tradition, he was the only one of Christ's apostles to die of natural causes. The image of Saint John enclosed was painted by an artist known as the Master B.F., a prominent illuminator working in Lombardy, Italy at the turn of the 16th century. The master is so named because of the monogram with which he signed some of his works. Characteristic of his illuminations is the use of foreshortened landscapes to frame the central figures housed within the initials. This initial may have begun the gradual chant "Exiit sermo...", which was recited for the feast of Saint John the Evangelist (December 27). Likely removed from its parent manuscript in the early 19thth century, the image is a prime example of the fashion among collectors for cutting Italian medieval illuminations from books so that they could be displayed as if they were independent panel paintings.

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