Gradual

Beginning of the Mass for Trinity Sunday

F-0v8a

Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Abdij der Norbertijnen van Averbode, Archief, Sectie IV, hs. 414, b

General Information

Title Gradual
Material Parchment

Current Condition

Dimensions 468 x 337 mm

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

A historiated initial on the verso of the page, depicting the Holy Trinity, marks the beginning of the Mass for Trinity Sunday. The Renaissance-style trompe-l'oeil initial B in ochre and gold is set inside a square frame on a pink background. Inside the B, God the Father holds a Crucifix in front of a dais draped in green fabric. He wears a red mantle and a papal tiara.

A portrait of a tonsured, white-robed cleric, presumably the abbot who commissioned the manuscript, is depicted in the border next to the initial, praying to the Trinity. The donor is depicted kneeling at a lectern, framed by an elaborate late-Gothic arch in pink and gold against a deep blue background, in the upper left corner. 

The page has a full trompe-l'oeil border in the Ghent-Bruges style strewn with pansies, strawberries, carnations, thistles, roses and other flowering plants, as well as butterflies, birds and snails.

The abbot's arms are painted in the centre of the bottom border, paired with a white trompe-l'oeil scroll bearing the words "Nequid nimis." The hook of an abbot's crosier surmounts the shield.

History

Origin

The fragment can be identified as belonging to a gradual commissioned by Gerard vander Schaeft, whose arms and motto appear in the bottom border of the verso. He was abbot of Averbode Abbey from 1501 until his death in 1532.