Illuminated initial showing a Priest Celebrating Mass; border cartouche with deer; border roundel with deer, possibly from the Missal of Lucrezia de’ Medici

Illuminated initial showing a Priest Celebrating Mass; border cartouche with deer; border roundel with deer, possibly from the Missal of Lucrezia de’ Medici

The extreme delicacy, brilliant palette, and crystalline naturalism of these three excised fragments are hallmarks of Girolamo di Giovanni dei Corradi da Cremona (doc. 1460–83), one of the foremost illuminators of manuscripts and printed books in Italy during the third quarter of the fifteenth century. It has been suggested that this cutting might be the remnants of a Missal produced by Girolamo for Lucrezia de’ Medici (1448–93), second daughter of Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici and Lucrezia Tornabuoni. The historiated initial showing the Elevation of the Host is from the Canon of the Mass. The roundel, showing a pair of deer in a similar landscape, comes from the lower portion of a border facing the beginning of the Missal’s prefaces, as indicated by the decorated prephatio catchword on the reverse side.

Illuminator: Girolamo da Cremona

1475-76

Manuscript cutting illuminated on parchment

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E M 27:27–29

Possibly Venice, Italy