Gradual 1 for San Michele a Murano
by GHERARDUCCI, Don Silvestro dei, Tempera and gold on parchment, 318 x 165 mm
The scene within the initial L represents the Adoration of the Shepherds. It is set in a hilly landscape with a grotto. The Christ Child lies swaddled in a wattle crib beneath a canopy propped against the hillside. Two shepherds have knelt down to worship the newborn Saviour. The initial L introduced the introit to the Mass for Christmas morning. The composition of the Adoration echoes a Sienese painting, in all likelihood a lost Nativity by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.