Gradual from Santa Maria degli Angeli (Folio 90)
by GHERARDUCCI, Don Silvestro dei, Tempera and gold on parchment, 289 x 302 mm
Among the various choir books that Don Silvestro illuminated for his monastery, Santa Maria degli Angeli, one (Cod. Cor. 2, now in the Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence) clearly stands out for its high artistic quality. As were most of the Santa Maria degli Angeli choir books which entered the Biblioteca Laurenziana, it was mutilated in the Napoleonic period. Twenty pages - many of them the most important and most beautiful - were cut from this gradual and found their way into various collections. There are thirty-eight present and missing illuminations in the codex on which a reconstruction can be based.
The miniature from folio 90 depicts St Romuald Enthroned with Four Saints in an initial O. This initial begins the introit to the Mass for the feast of St Romuald (June 19, according to the Camaldolese calendar). The richly ornamented initial in the shape of a floral garland opens into a well-defined picture space, where St Romuald sits on an ornate tabernacle throne. The founder of the Camaldolese order is surrounded by a bishop saint, possibly St Augustine, and three monastic saints wearing Camaldolese habits.