Initial V: The Children of the World Praising the Lord, cutting from a gradual
This is a manuscript cutting from a choir book, a gradual, illuminated by Zanobi di Benedetto Strozzi in Florence around 1430 for liturgical use in a church. The single picture is a historiated initial showing a crowd of robed figures with raised hands praising the Lord, set within gold leaf, acanthus-like scrollwork and bright blue, green and orange foliage. A designer might take its dense gilded ornament, interlaced vine borders and rich jewel-toned palette as a model for decorative framing.
