Leaf Excised from an Antiphonary: Initial Q with Saints Peter and Paul

c. 1325

Leaf Excised from an Antiphonary: Initial Q with Saints Peter and Paul, c. 1325. South Flanders. Ink, tempera and gold on vellum; each leaf: 32.3 x 21.9 cm (12 11/16 x 8 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection 2003.171 The sheet belonged to an antiphonary, a large liturgical book used by the choir for chanting. It contains all the music and texts needed for daily services in the church. In South Flanders, where this manuscript originates, the Confrérie des Charitables de Saint-Éloi has been active since 1188, when a plague wave raged in the region. This brotherhood was in charge of giving bread to the poor, caring for the sick, consoling the dying, burying the dead, and giving them a burial. This leaf comes from a manuscript once owned by the famous Victorian art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900), who removed some of its leaves to give away as gifts.