Manuscript Cutting: Historiated Initial ‘F’ from a Choir Book showing Saint Francis and Saint Clare

Domenico Morone (about 1442 – after 1518)
Historiated Initial ‘F’ from a Choir Book showing Saint Francis and Saint Clare
Verona, early 16th Century
Water-based pigment and gold leaf on parchment, 375 x 243 mm (max. dims)
Victoria and Albert Museum (No. 4916)

This cutting from an Italian choir book by Domenico Morone illustrates Saint Francis admitting Saint Clare into the Franciscan order. Both saints demonstrate physical signs and acts of devotion by kneeling and praying. Saint Clare is known for her rejection of material possessions which is shown by clothes scattered on the floor in the illumination. The initial ‘F’ is cut to shape, severing it from its original choir book context. 

This cutting shows Saint Francis of Assisi with the stigmata, which are bodily marks that relate to the physical wounds on Jesus Christ when he was crucified on the cross. In the manuscript cutting, these marks are visible on Saint Francis’s hands, as he is recognised as one of the first stigmatics in Christian history. These bodily marks appear as a physical sign of Saint Francis’s devotion to Christ that has been dramatised in the historiated initial. In the image, Saint Francis is admitting Saint Clare of Assisi into the Franciscan Order. The Order was a devotional group founded by Saint Francis of Assisi within the larger religious community and was recognised for its highly religious lifestyle. Saint Clare’s secular clothes lie on the floor beside her as she now wears plain robes to symbolise her acceptance into the Order. Saint Clare’s clothes and material belongings convey a physical devotion, reflecting her dedication to a life of severe poverty and admittance to Christ. Other cuttings from the same antiphonary can be found in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Staatliche Museen in Berlin.