Initial P: The Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds, cutting from a gradual
A illuminated manuscript cutting from a gradual, made around 1392 by Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna and held by the J. Paul Getty Museum, probably for liturgical use in a church or choir. The picture is an ornate initial P framing a scene of shepherds, a kneeling figure in blue, and an angel above a stable, all in gold leaf and saturated pigment. A designer might take the dense gold-ground framing, the scrolling acanthus-like border, and the rich blue and red palette as models for decorative lettering.
