Missal. Venice, 1482

[MISSAL, for Roman Use].
Venice: Bartholomaeus de Blavis, Andreas Torresanus de Asula, and Mapheus de Paterbonis, July 1482. (06714)

In fifteenth-century Missals, tradition required that the beginning of the Canon of the Mass (“Te igitur”) should be illustrated with an image of the crucified Christ or a related image of sacrifice, such as Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac. In Bridwell Library’s copy of this early Venetian Missal, an unidentified Italian illuminator has painted an arresting and  monumental image of Christ on the Cross, devoid of any additional figures or extraneous narrative details. Preserved in its original Italian binding, this is the only copy of this Missal in America.