Saint Dominic in a Historiated Initial "G" from an Antiphonary

Neri da Rimini · 1310/15

Medium

Manuscript cutting in tempera and gold leaf, with gothica textualis inscriptions in Latin in black ink, ruled in red, and with other decorations, on parchment

Original size

Initial: 7 × 7 cm (2 13/16 × 2 13/16 in.); Sheet: 54.5 × 38.5 cm (21 1/2 × 15 3/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Medieval

Intimate in scale but extraordinary in ambition, this manuscript cutting places Saint Dominic within the intricate cage of a gilded gothic initial, a devotional image small enough to hold in your hands yet rich enough to command a room. Neri da Rimini was among the most accomplished illuminators working in northern Italy at the turn of the fourteenth century, bringing the expressive humanity of the emerging Rimini school into the confined discipline of manuscript art. His figures carry a psychological weight unusual for the period, and his command of gold leaf — applied here with the luminous precision of a master — transforms a liturgical letter into something closer to a portable altarpiece. The gothica textualis inscriptions and red ruling lines are not mere decoration but an integral part of the composition, framing the saint with the same gravity as a stone arch frames a cathedral portal. The cutting was originally part of an antiphonary, a choirbook used in the Divine Office, meaning this image of Dominic once accompanied the sung prayers of monastic life. Our hand-painted oil reproduction translates the warmth of the original tempera and the luminosity of the gold leaf into a format built to last for generations, preserving every deliberate mark of a painter working at the height of his craft.