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Manuscript Illumination with the Annunciation in an Initial R, from a Gradual

ca. 1300
Not on view
Here, the letter “R” opens the Introit, or entrance hymn, “Rorate caeli de super” (Drop down dew, you heavens, from above), sung on the Feast of the Annunciation. This feast day was one of the most important in the Church calendar, celebrating the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus. That moment is exquisitely illustrated on this leaf, which was cut from a Dominican choir book. Probably painted by the nuns of the convent of Sankt Katharinenthal, the figures of the Archangel and the Virgin are pictured against a burnished gold background. The Virgin lifts both hands as the dove of the Holy Ghost whispers in her ear. The detailed refinement of the figures’ faces, the elongated sway of their bodies, and the intimate scale of the scene are characteristic of a number of related cuttings, all thought to come from the same manuscript.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Manuscript Illumination with the Annunciation in an Initial R, from a Gradual
  • Date: ca. 1300
  • Geography: Made in Lake Constance, Switzerland
  • Culture: Upper Rhenish
  • Medium: Tempera, ink and gold on parchment
  • Dimensions: 4 x 3 1/16in. (10.2 x 7.8cm)
    Mat: 9 × 7 in. (22.9 × 17.8 cm)
  • Classification: Manuscripts and Illuminations
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by exchange, 1982
  • Object Number: 1982.175
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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Hebrew Bible, copied by Hayyim, Tempera and gold leaf on parchment
Returned to lender
Hebrew Bible, copied by Hayyim
ca. 1312

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