Manuscript Illumination with All Saints in an Initial V, from an Antiphonary
Attributed to Cosmè Tura (Cosimo di Domenico di Bonaventura) Italian
Not on view
This miniature, included in the same choir book series as the four preceding fragments, illustrates an antiphon for the Feast of All Saints (November 1): "Vidi turbam magnam quam dinumerare nemo poterat ex ominibus gentibus stantes ante thronum" (I saw a great multitude which no man could number, out of all nations, standing before the throne).
Inside the initial V is a crowd of male and female saints, four of whom, in the foreground, are wearing the brown dress of the Franciscan order. On the left, with a small red cross on his habit, is the Blessed John of Capistrano (1386-1456), a preacher and member of the Franciscan order of Observant friars. The older female saint on the left, may perhaps be identified as the Blessed Caterina Vegri (1413-1463), of the Franciscan order of Poor Clares, who died in the Clarissan Convent of Corpus Domini, in Ferrara. Her presence could indicate that the original choir book series was painted by Tura for the Convent of Corpus Domini, which enjoyed the special patronage of the Este dukes.
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