Two Marys Discover the Empty Tomb in a Historiated Initial “M”

Bonifacio Bembo, workshop of · 1475/99

Medium

Manuscript cutting in tempera and gold leaf, and pen and black ink, on parchment, with gothica textura inscriptions in black ink, verso

Original size

11.5 × 9.7 cm (4 9/16 × 3 7/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Italian Renaissance

This small but luminous manuscript cutting packs an entire Easter narrative into the curved arms of a single letter, the scene of the two Marys at the empty tomb contained within a gilded initial "M" no larger than a palm. Bonifacio Bembo was one of the leading illuminators of the Lombard court, producing work for the Visconti and Sforza families during the height of their patronage in Milan. His workshop's signature lies in the jewel-like precision of tempera laid over parchment, the figures rendered with a courtly elegance that owes as much to panel painting as to the miniaturist tradition. The use of burnished gold leaf alongside pen-drawn gothica textura lettering reflects the dual ambition of these cuttings — devotional object and display of technical virtuosity in equal measure. Historiated initials like this one were often excised from choir books and bound manuscripts by collectors in later centuries, which is how individual cuttings found their way into museum collections; the Art Institute of Chicago holds several such Lombard examples. The hand-painted oil reproduction translates Bembo's intricate composition into a format built to last centuries, preserving the warm ochres, deep blues, and the quiet drama of that early-morning discovery at the tomb.