Historiated initial D from a choir book showing the Baptism of Christ

Historiated initial D from a choir book showing the Baptism of Christ

This historiated initial D showing the Baptism of Christ comes from the same set of Lombard choir books as the previous item, the initial C with Saint John on Patmos, as well as the decorated initial cuttings from the Santi Angelo e Niccolò at Villanova Sillaro choir books. Visually, the composition has some faint echoes of the Baptism of Christ by Andrea del Verrocchio, a painting to which the young Leonardo da Vinci contributed around 1475. Working a generation later in Milan, the artist to whom this image is attributed, Master B.F. (act. ca. 1490–1545), may well have had interactions with Leonardo. Frequent borrowings have been noted from Leonardesque compositions in other cuttings from the Villanova Sillaro choir books. The initial D begins the Collect for the feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June, “D[eus qui praesentem diem honorabilem nobis in beati Joannis . . .].”

Illuminator: Master B.F.

ca. 1500

Illuminated manuscript cutting on parchment

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E M 28:19

Lombardy, Italy