CENNI di Francesco di Ser Cenni
(active 1369-1415 in Florence)

Antiphonary (Folio 35v)

1370s
Tempera and gold on parchment, 608 x 418 mm (page size)
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Though the Antiphonary in Baltimore is fragmentary, ending abruptly on folio 56v, its contents are continuous without hiatus. The volume contains 8 miniatures in initials, and numerous pen-work initials. The volume was dedicated to Sts Peter and Nicholas of Bari, and it can be assumed that the book may have been commissioned for a chapel dedicated to one of the saints in a church dedicated to the other. A possible identification is the chapel of St Nicholas of Bari in the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence.

It has long been recognized that more than one painter was involved in the completion of the Baltimore Antiphonary. Though Cenni di Francesco was responsible for painting the principal miniatures, their designs may not be attributable entirely to him.

In an initial N on folio 35v the scenes St Peter Enthroned and the Liberation of St Peter are depicted. In the upper half of the initial St Peter is enthroned on a lion-headed faldstool, with two angels supporting a cloth of honour behind him. Below the dais of the throne is a separate scene of the angel leading Peter by the hand out of prison.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.