Getty Museum

Leaf from the Missal of Innocent VIII

Date

1484–1492

Medium

Tempera colors and gold

Culture

Italian

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

This manuscript illumination dates from a period of impressive artistic production at the Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. In around 1480, Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471-84) ordered an architectural renovation of the 'Great Chapel' at the Vatican, which came to be known as the Sistine Chapel (most famous for Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes). Shortly after this, the subsequent pope, Innocent VIII (c. 1484-92), commissioned a set of lavish liturgical manuscripts specifically for use in the Chapel. This leaf comes from one of these manuscripts, illuminated by the monk-turned-artist Giuliano Amadei. Set within an elaborate classical frame, a depiction of Christ's Crucifixion is centered on the leaf. This episode is pivotal to Christians, who believe that Jesus sacrificed his life to make eternal salvation possible. A stream of Christ's redemptive blood flows with noticeable intensity from his side-wound towards his grieving mother, the Virgin Mary. Below there is a depiction of the Lamentation, a scene in which Mary cradles her dead son on her lap, surrounded by mourners. Here, the artist diminished the size of Christ's body, in order to emphasize the impression of his mother supporting the weight of the corpse. The ten roundels along the margins of the page contain portrayals of Old Testament prophets, including at center left, King David with his lyre (believed to be a direct ancestor of Christ). Missals include the texts of the prayers necessary for the celebration of the Mass, the Catholic ritual in which Christ's sacrifice upon the cross for humankind's salvation is memorialized. On the folio to the left that would have originally faced this Crucifixion scene there was likely an illumination with the Pope celebrating Mass in the Sistine Chapel. Since the eighth century in missals, depictions of the Crucifixion preceded the Canon of the Mass, the prayer spoken by the priest immediately before the offering of the eucharist and reminding the congregation of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.