Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Piccolomini breviary
Italy, Lombardy, ca. 1475
MS M.799 fol. 379v

See more information »

Bust of Augustine of Hippo, nimbed and tonsured, wearing habit, looking upward, raising left hand, enclosed in initial D decorated with foliate ornament.
In upper margin, bust of Augustinian monk, nimbed and tonsured, with joined hands, enclosed in medallion surrounded by gold balls and flowers; in lower margin, half-figure of Augustinian monk, nimbed and tonsured, wearing habit, with joined hands, within medallion flanked by two lozenges each enclosing deer in landscape. Medallions and initial linked by red band decorated with gold foliate ornament and two cornucopias.
Pen-flourished initials.
Text is collect for first Vespers on feast of Conversion of Augustine of Hippo, 04.27.