Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Book of Hours
Belgium, probably Brussels, 1533
MS M.491 fol. 226r

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Gregory the Great: celebrating Mass -- One of two cardinals, tonsured, wearing vestments, holds triple-crowned papal tiara. Two deacons, tonsured, flank Gregory the Great, each grasping his priest's vestments. Gregory, nimbed, kneels before draped altar with two candles and vessel. Christ, nimbed, appears above altar as Man of Sorrows, wearing crown of thorns and loin cloth, bleeding from wounds, standing in sarcophagus. Behind Him, on wall, are the instruments of the Passion, including scourges, pincers, column, ladder, and spear with sponge. To right, four heads (mostly abraded) appear beside instruments.
Miniature and text framed by architectural border.
Initial O decorated with foliate ornament begins the Seven Verses of St. Gregory.