![Initial S[alve sancta parens] from a Gradual: Madonna and Child](https://cdn.collectionframe.com/P57ygpI6Plz2tmbpYxD8UsIeAN0g5UkT/214488c9-13d9-461d-b2b7-274ba4e11521/initial-s-alve-sancta-parens-from-a-gradual-madonna-and-chil.webp?key=P57ygpI6Plz2tmbpYxD8UsIeAN0g5UkT%2F214488c9-13d9-461d-b2b7-274ba4e11521.jpg)
Medieval Art & Manuscripts
Initial S[alve sancta parens] from a Gradual: Madonna and Child
MetalworkReligious ArtManuscript
Details
- Author / creator
- Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (Italian, 1339–1399)
- Object type
- Manuscript
- Date or period
- c. 1370–74
- Dimensions summary
- Sheet: 16 × 13 cm
- Place of origin
- Italy
- Acquisition method
- Purchase
- Credit line
- Purchased with the Public appeal (1998), 1924
- Text
- Gradual
- Script
- Gothic rotunda
- Language
- Latin
- Image rights
- Public domain (CC0)
About this object
Along with several other excised leaves and miniatures that survive in various libraries and museums, this decorated initial S was part of a magnificent gradual produced in the scriptorium of the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence. The Madonna and Child was a standard image for the Saturday votive Mass to the Virgin. This initial originally introduced the text: Salve sancta parens (“Hail, Holy Mother”).
Materials and technique
Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
