Manuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a Gradual

Manuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a Gradual

Don Silvestro de' Gherarducci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Were it not for the halos, one might think that this scene, painted by a monk celebrated as a painter, illuminator, and successful administrator of Santa Maria degli Angeli, represents morning in a wealthy home in Florence. Surrounded by bright silks on the bed and walls of her chamber, Saint Anne gazes down as midwives bathe her child, the Virgin Mary. Servants enter and exit at the right, one partly hidden by the framing initial. Lilies, symbolic of the Virgin's purity, fill the border; one cuts through the initial below Saint Anne's hand.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Manuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a GradualManuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a GradualManuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a GradualManuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a GradualManuscript Illumination with the Birth of the Virgin in an Initial G, from a Gradual

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.