St Cecilia kneeling in prayer, historiated initial from a set of Choir books

An image of Illuminated manuscript. Cutting. Historiated initial from a set of Choir books. Production Place: Italy, Milan or Lodi. Parchment, gold, 160 x 147 mm, two fragmentary lines of text ruled in pale brown ink and two fragmentary four-line musical staves ruled in red ink on reverse, circa 1395 to circa 1400.
CONTENTS: The initial C would have introduced the responsory to the first lesson at Matins for the feast of St Cecilia (22 Nov.), Cantantibus organis, Caecilia virgo in corde suo soli domino decantabat dicens: Fiat domine cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum ut non confundar; fragmentary text on reverse, […]sa est…tuis. DECORATION: Historiated initial in pale graded pink on burnished gold ground with floral and acanthus extensions into the margins which also contain gold balls and birds: [C] St Cecilia kneeling in prayer and accompanied by three musicians with an organ.

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Illuminated manuscript. Cutting. Historiated initial from a set of Choir books. Production Place: Italy, Milan or Lodi. Parchment, gold, 160 x 147 mm, two fragmentary lines of text ruled in pale brown ink and two fragmentary four-line musical staves ruled in red ink on reverse, circa 1395 to circa 1400. CONTENTS: The initial C would have introduced the responsory to the first lesson at Matins for the feast of St Cecilia (22 Nov.), Cantantibus organis, Caecilia virgo in corde suo soli domino decantabat dicens: Fiat domine cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum ut non confundar; fragmentary text on reverse, […]sa est…tuis. DECORATION: Historiated initial in pale graded pink on burnished gold ground with floral and acanthus extensions into the margins which also contain gold balls and birds: [C] St Cecilia kneeling in prayer and accompanied by three musicians with an organ.

Image data

Accession Number: MS McClean 201.13h
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Photographer name: Andrew Morris
Image height: 1105 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Filesize: 235.46kB

Key words

14th Century _WF_AdOK _WF_KWD _WF_OPAC _WF_OPAC_pending acanthus architectural architecture balls birds blonde burnished choir book Christianity cutting decorative initial devout divine light divine presence Early Renaissance female Fitz_MSPB floral gold balls gold leaf golden balls historiated initial illuminated illumination inhabited initial initial Italian kneeling manuscript Milanese School miniature music music manuscript musical musician musicians organ organ pipes organist parchment prayer praying religion religious Renaissance Saint Cecilia saints St Cecelia St Cecilia Trecento

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "St Cecilia kneeling in prayer, historiated initial from a set of Choir books"
            Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-2221682934 Accessed: 2025-12-05 09:13:20

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            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 09:13:20|publisher=The
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