Historiated initial T from a Missal showing the Lamentation

Historiated initial T from a Missal showing the Lamentation

This brightly illuminated initial T begins the first words of the Canon of the Mass, “Te igitur, clementissme Pater,” marking the start of the Canon of the Mass. This miniature shows the Lamentation, with Mary holding Christ’s dead body at the center. The miniature’s bright style encapsulates the Florentine High Renaissance aesthetic and can be attributed to Vante di Gabriello di Vante Attavante (1452–ca. 1520/25). Praised by Giorgio Vasari, he garnered significant renown in his own lifetime and was among the experts called upon by the Florentine republic to decide on the appropriate location of Michelangelo’s David. There are over a thousand illuminated manuscripts related to his artistic style. This cutting may be a hitherto unrecognized fragment of a set of three Missals decorated by Attavante around 1520 for the Sistine Chapel by Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici, known as Pope Leo X (r. 1513–21).

Illuminator: Attavante degli Attavanti

ca. 1520

Illuminated manuscript cutting on parchment

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E M 25:9

Rome, Italy