Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Vita S. Benedicti
Italy, perhaps in Padua, ca. 1450
MS M.184 fol. 4r

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Miniature, left compartment: 1) Benedict of Montecassino: Scene, Sieve broken -- Cyrilla of Norcia, wearing wimpled veil, with left hand raised to head and with right hand indicates broken sieve (as wooden trough) on table, before youthful Benedict of Montecassino, nimbed, wearing hat and hooded red mantle, raising right hand in blessing and with left hand touching the sieve. In foreground are two benches. Scene in interior with two arched doorways, window and wooden ceiling. Miniature, right compartment: 2) Benedict of Montecassino: Scene, restoring Sieve -- To right, man, wearing hat, raises hand, before group of men, women and children, the foremost male youth, wearing hat, raises pole to fasten sieve to church façade, with cross-surmounting towers over door and crenellated walls. Miniature within frame for Chapter 1 of Book II of Dialogues; Benedict of Montecassino made a broken sieve whole and the townspeople restored it to the church door.