Illuminated leaf from a manuscript of Gratian’s Decretum with the Glossa ordinaria of Bartolomeo da Brescia

Image data

• Illuminated manuscript. Leaf from a manuscript of Gratian’s Decretum with the Glossa ordinaria of Bartolomeo da Brescia. The Marlay Gratian atelier, artist. Gratian, author (Italian, d. by 1159). Brescia, Bartolomeo da, author. Parchment, columns and lines ruled in plummet, running headers, 461 x 282 mm (recto 429 x 252 mm, verso 291 x 240 mm), two text columns of 50 lines and two gloss columns of 99 lines on recto, two text columns of 24 lines and two gloss columns of 72 lines on verso. Production Place: Italy, Bologna. Circa 1320. CONTENTS: Gratian, Decretum, Part II, De poenitentia, part of Causa XXXIII (On penance; Melnikas 1975, III, 1061-83). DECORATION: Marlay cutting It. 11r: One-column miniature: A preacher in black addresses a congregation from a pulpit on whose steps sits another figure in black hood and cloak, perhaps a priest waiting to hear confessions. ORNAMENTATION: Main text: inhabited initials with half-length portrait, letters painted in graded pink or grey on gold grounds and extending into acanthus sprays to form partial borders, for Causae: Marlay cutting It. 11r [H, 7 ll.] Seated hooded man in profile, [S, 4 ll.] Head; smaller inhabited initials [4 ll.] in pink on gold grounds with bust-length portraits for lesser divisions; alternate blue and red initials [3-4 ll.] adjacent to text with red or blue pen-flourished infill and extensions for minor text divisions; alternate red and blue one-line initials with blue or red pen flourishing at the start of some sentences. Gloss: Foliate initials [3-8 ll.] in pink or grey on blue grounds with small acanthus extensions, for major divisions (corresponding to both large and small inhabited initials in the main text); alternate red and blue initials [2 ll.] embedded within column with blue or red pen flourishing for minor divisions (corresponding to pen-flourished initials in the main text); voided paraph marks with alternate red and blue display capitals [2-gloss ll.] with minor flourishing in blue or red (guide letters in upper margin) for quaestiones; alternate red and blue paraph marks; simple geometric line-fillers in brown ink to even up gloss columns at the end of Causae. Inter-column decoration: On leaves with miniatures, the spaces between text and gloss columns are decorated with foliate, acanthus and gold disc partial borders and zoomorphic motifs: Marlay cutting It. 11r Bird with extended wing.
• Copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum
• Image height: 1365 pixels
• Image width: 1024 pixels
• Filesize: 374.79kB