Getty Museum

Cutting from an antiphonal

Date

about 1460–1480

Medium

Tempera and gold leaf

Culture

Italian

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

This decorated initial *A* was once part of an antiphonal, a liturgical book used in Catholic services during the Middle Ages. Antiphonals, containing short chants called antiphons, were used in the Divine Office, a series of daily services performed by clergy, monks, and nuns. This cutting, trimmed to only include the decorated initial, was painted by Frate Nebridio (active 1460's – 1490's), a monk of the Dominican order. Nebridio lived in Lombardy, northern Italy, during the second half of the 15th century, where he was commissioned to illustrate a series of choir books for the duomo (cathedral) of Cremona. This letter *A* would have introduced a hymn concerning the Saints Maurice and Theofredus, two key Romano-African figures who are honored in liturgical chants for their faith and martyrdom. Saint Maurice led the Theban Legion, martyred in the 3rd century for refusing to renounce Christianity. Saint Theofredus, abbot of Calmeliac in 7th-century Gaul, was martyred during the Muslim incursions into southern France. The figures face each other, staring into each other's eyes in a compassionate way. The imagery portrays the narrative that these two share serving as reminders of faith's enduring power in the face of persecution. The initial likely would have been the start of the hymn "*Austergat Deus*" ("God will wipe away") expressing hope and redemption in the face of suffering, a prayer that is usually sung on the feast day of Saint Maurice, which often falls around the time of the Autumnal Equinox.

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