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Source Description
Enlarged initials filled with humans or animals are known as "inhabited initials," and they tend to be playful rather than illustrations of the text. On this page, two armored soldiers scale the initial L at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel. One hoists the other up on his shoulders, perhaps offering his companion a better view of the angel on the opposite page. While fun, these types of images were also useful, since they visually marked sections of text.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
2162
label
Inhabited Initial L
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
2162
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Inhabited Initial L
description
Enlarged initials filled with humans or animals are known as "inhabited initials," and they tend to be playful rather than illustrations of the text. On this page, two armored soldiers scale the initial L at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel. One hoists the other up on his shoulders, perhaps offering his companion a better view of the angel on the opposite page. While fun, these types of images were also useful, since they visually marked sections of text.
provenance
Leon Gruel, Paris, late 19th century; Henry Walters, Baltimore, after 1894 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1100 (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
folios (leaves)
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
28.6
height
23.3
dimensionsRaw
H: 11 1/4 x W: 9 3/16 in. (28.6 x 23.3 cm)
Source extras
style
Romanesque
med
parchment with ink and paint
creator_ids
6242
6229
collection_ids
MSS
exhibition_ids
2829
2012
2289
105
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
ce46bfd929618bdc
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
b5e9351673f71bb4
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no