Gradual
A liturgical choir book, a gradual with chant notation and text, illuminated by Antonio da Monza in 1550 for use in church services. Its pictures show painted historiated initials and border scenes, with a resurrected Christ in a landscape with a fortified city, soldiers, and dense grotesque foliage in red, gold, and blue. A designer could take its layered framing devices, jewel-toned palette, and the way small narrative vignettes sit inside decorative capitals.
