Overview
Facsimile Description Print    Online Since: 07/18/2025

Lives of the Saints – Fragment

Parchment · 1 partial leaf (cutting) · 1440 – 1460 CE · Vienna · 95 x 252 mm

F-j24q

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E M 1:11
Image Rights
How to quote
Scholarly descriptions
Curated Tags
Century
Text Language
Script Type
Places
Summary

Viennese, ca. 1440–1460, this cutting from a German-language hagiographic manuscript—possibly a vernacular Legenda aurea—features an historiated initial F with an Anna Selbdritt composition: Saint Anne holding both the Virgin and Christ Child. The starry blue ground and tooled gold highlight celestial and Marian symbolism. Now in the Free Library of Philadelphia (John Frederick Lewis Collection), the fragment reflects the devotional and visual priorities of mid-15th-century Austrian illumination.

Summary Author
Yunji Li, New York University (United States)
External Resources