This elegant and accomplished initial was likely painted in Umbria by a contemporary of the Master of St Francis, the artist named for his frescoes in the Lower Church of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. There is a shared quality in the linear treatment of drapery folds and the detailed schematic rendering of faces.

It is a bold composition where the figures of an Emperor and two companions are tucked to one side kneeling in veneration before the focus of the scene, the True Cross, hung with the Crown of Thorns and planted in the skull of Adam. It is probable that the initial opened the Antiphon Dulce lignum dulces clavos dulce pondus sustinuit for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Saint Helena, mother of the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, was believed to have discovered the remains of the Cross in the 320s while she was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Constantine founded the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on the site. During the 7th-century Persian-Byzantine War the relic was seized by the Persians. After 15 years it was recovered by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius and returned to Jerusalem in 630. This restoration was commemorated by the institution of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. It is perhaps Heraclius who is shown in this initial.

Physical description:
123 x 123mm (4⅞ x 4⅞ in.), laid down.

Please note this lot is the property of a private consignor.