Initial E with Christ preaching This initial begins the first response for the first nocturn of Matins for the Common of the Apostles, 'Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum...' (Behold, I send you out like sheep in the midst of wolves). This image shows the reverse of a cutting with an historiated initial from an antiphonary. Initial O with the Flagellation This initial begins the first response for the first nocturn of Matins for Good Friday, ' Omnes amici mei dereliquerunt me ...' (All my friends have forsaken me). Initial U with Joseph's dream of the sun, moon, and eleven stars This initial begins the first response for the first nocturn of Matins for the third Sunday in Lent, 'Videntes Ioseph a longe loquebantur mutuo fratres ...' (Seeing Joseph in the distance, the brothers said to one another). Initial D with an unidentified male saint The identity of this saint portrayed here and the precise moment in the liturgy that this initial begins remain to be determined. Initial S with St. Paul The precise moment in the liturgy that this initial begins remains to be determined. Initial E with St. Paul preaching Initial L with Christ healing the sick Initial H with the Baptism of Christ This initial begins the first response of the first nocturn of Matins of Epiphany, 'Hodie in Iordane baptizato Domino ...' (Today, when the Lord was baptized in the Jordan). Initial C with an unidentified bishop saint This cutting and its sister cuttings (Lewis E M 26:20-29), all from the same antiphonary, are some of the earliest examples of medieval Italian manuscript illumination in the Free Library's collection. Nearly thirty years after the execution of these initials, the character of Italian illumination and painting would fundamentally change under the leadership of artists such as the Florentine... These cuttings can be dated to ca. 1260-1270.
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