The Trinity in an Initial B

Master of the Codex Rossiano Sienese

Not on view

The initial B marks the beginning of the introit to the Mass for Trinity Sunday: Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas ("Blessed be the Holy Trinity").
In the upper half of the initial, the three persons of the Trinity are seated on a throne of red seraphim, and below them are ten angels dressed in white. In the upper corners of the gold border, two bust-length prophets gesture toward the Trinity; partially visible in the lower left corner is the bust-length figure of a white-clad Olivetan monk. This cutting is one of eleven surviving fragments from a lost Gradual painted about 1387 for the Olivetan monastery of San Miniato al Monte in Florence.

The Trinity in an Initial B, Master of the Codex Rossiano (Sienese, active ca. 1380–1400), Tempera and gold on parchment, Italian, Siena

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The Trinity in an Initial B, Master of the Codex Rossiano (Sienese, active ca. 1380–1400), Tempera and gold on parchment, Italian, Siena
The Trinity in an Initial B, Master of the Codex Rossiano (Sienese, active ca. 1380–1400), Tempera and gold on parchment, Italian, Siena
The Trinity in an Initial B, Master of the Codex Rossiano (Sienese, active ca. 1380–1400), Tempera and gold on parchment, Italian, Siena

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