Initial H: The Nativity, cutting from an antiphonal
A decorated initial H cut from a choir book, painted around 1405 by Don Simone Camaldolese, a monk, for liturgical singing in a monastery. Its Nativity scene shows the Virgin in blue, Joseph, the ox and ass, and angels against gold leaf and a blue sky, a model for ornate framing, gilded borders, and jewel-toned palettes.
