Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Breviary
Italy, Bologna, ca. 1315-1325
MS M.0373 fol. 274r

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Half-figure of man, possibly John Baptist, nimbed, with rough hair and beard, indicating with right hand and holding book with left hand, enclosed in initial H decorated with foliate ornament. Margins decorated with foliate ornament and gold balls; in left margin, youth wearing diadem, holding raised sword with right hand and sheath with left hand, wearing short garment, barefoot, standing on rocky outcrop atop foliate ornament. Pen flourished initials. Text is first lesson, first nocturn for Matins on 08.29, feast of John Baptist, beheading.