Initial A: Saint John the Baptist and the Messiah, cutting from a gradual
A Florentine illuminated cutting from a choir gradual, made around 1400 by the Master of the Burke Saint John the Baptist and the Messiah for liturgical use in a church choir. The picture is a gilded manuscript panel with a seated Christ in a mandorla above a crowd of haloed figures under a golden sky, framed by curling acanthus scrolls in violet, red and green. A designer could take its flat gold grounds, dense foliate borders and jewel-bright blue, red and violet palette as a model for ornamental initials and framing devices.
