Gothic liturgical book hand

Plimpton MS 040H survives today as eight detached leaves from a large Franciscan antiphonary produced in Venice between 1499 and 1501 and illuminated by the workshop of Benedetto Bordon. The parent manuscript belonged to the small Franciscan convent of San Nicolò della Lattuga—so named after a local miracle in which a Venetian nobleman was reportedly healed by eating lettuce grown in a Franciscan garden—an institution with a long and well-documented liturgical tradition.

Fol. 1r, the most elaborately decorated leaf, contains the antiphon Tradent enim vos in conciliis for Vespers in the Common of Apostles, combining text, chant, and a sophisticated program of illumination. The two miniatures, one historiated initial and one lower-border medallion, construct a visual theology of apostolic mission, aligning Christ’s commissioning of the apostles with Saint Francis’s own apostolic identity.

Folio 1r contains two principal illuminations, a full border, and several decorated initials:

1. Historiated Initial “T”: A pink historiated initial introduces Tradent enim…. Its vertical stroke is visually suppressed; instead, a curtain-like pink canopy forms the top bar of the letter, while the interior contains a miniature of Christ sending out the apostles. The scene is framed in burnished gold and shows Christ at left pointing toward a clustered group of four apostles at right. The composition uses overlapping haloes, directional gazes, and atmospheric blue mountains—hallmarks of the Venetian Renaissance idiom.

2. Lower Border Medallion: Centered in the lower margin is a polylobed medallion depicting Saint Francis with a kneeling friarr–Fra Pietro da Lucignano, the donor associated with these choirbooks. Francis stands blessing Pietro, holding a red cross-staff and a red-covered book, emphasizing his identity as preacher. The landscape behind them echoes the palette of the upper miniature and incorporates Venetian architectural motifs.

3. Full Border: A dense full foliate border surrounds the text block on all four sides: multicolored flowers enclosed by concentric penwork circles, framed by inner and outer narrow gold bands.

4. Secondary Initials and Penwork: Throughout the folio are one-line secondary initials in red or blue with voided ornament, followed by cadel-style letters sometimes incorporating small profile faces lightly washed in yellow. Rubrics appear in red.

Together, the decorative program frames fol. 1r as the ceremonial opening of the antiphonal section, articulating both the Franciscan community’s apostolic self-understanding and the artistic sophistication of Venetian illumination at the turn of the late fifteenth century.

Venice, S. Nicolo` della Lattuga, O.F.M.

1855–1936: George A. Plimpton

1901–1994: Pauline Ames Plimpton

1995–current: Columbia University, a gift from the children of Pauline Plimpton: Francis T. P. Plimpton, George Ames Plimpton, Oakes Ames Plimpton, and Sarah Gay Plimpton.