"[Missal Leaf]", Luc Antonio Giunta

This leaf is from the brief transitional period when the new technology of printing with movable type was combined with the more labor intensive methods of hand painting. The earliest printers were trained in the manuscript tradition and incorporated the conventions of historiated initials and illustrations into their early work. At first they left those spaces blank for the illuminator to complete entirely by hand. Later they developed printing methods (using woodcuts or iron engravings) to decorate the leaves.

This leaf is printed in red and black ink, in two columns with large initials illuminated in red, blue, and burnished gold. The text includes information on the coronation of the emperor in the absence of the pope.

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Condition: A

Minor foxing and dampstaining along the edges of the sheet.