Minneapolis Institute of Art

Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World), page from an Illuminated Antiphonary

Italy (Milan)

Date

c. 1425–50

Medium

Ink, gouache, and gold on parchment

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The decorated letter I shows Christ pointing to a disk-shaped mappa mundi (map of the world), a medieval representation of the then known lands, encircled by the ocean. The image is apt, for this I introduces the phrase In principio fecit deus celum et terram (In the beginning God made heaven and earth), with which the book of Genesis opens. The musical notation—neumes (square notes) marked on a four-line staff—is typical of Gregorian plainchant, liturgical music that developed in the Western Church beginning in the 8th century. A leafy scroll climbs the border, rising from the dragon at the bottom and pecked on top by a bizarre bird. Sophisticated decoration, rich colors, and sinuous lines are characteristic of the so-called International Gothic style. Italy, Europe

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