Saint Blaise

In front of the old rose-pink initial ‘E’ surrounded by multicolored foliage decoration, the figure of a Holy Bishop with miter, crozier, gloves and rings, is depicted while blessing with his right hand. He faces the viewer with an intense, almost absorbing, gaze. He wears, over a silver blue-gray undergarment, a blue-trimmed green coat. The skillfully articulated draperies fold into warm burgundy shadows, giving the garment a shimmering effect. The luminous habit of the figure stands out from a richly tooled gold field.

This impressive miniature belonged once to a set of antiphonaries made in Siena, an ambitious commission made by the Augustine hermits of Lecceto, that has been reconstructed thanks to the research of Guilia Chelazzi Dini, Grazia Vailati Schoenburg Waldenburg and Gaudenz Freuler. At the earlier stages of the decoration of this set of Choir Books, its leading artist was the Master of the Codex Rossiano (Fra Gregorio Mutii da Montalcino?), whose hand is most clearly discernable in the initial with the Martyrdom of Saint Agatha (also in our inventory).