This plate comes from the Mira calligraphiae monumenta (“Model Book of Calligraphy”), one of the most celebrated manuscripts of the late Renaissance. The imperial scribe Georg Bocskay wrote it in the 1560s for Emperor Ferdinand I; some thirty years later, Joris Hoefnagel — the last great Flemish manuscript illuminator — added a construction alphabet, painting each capital letter on a measured grid and surrounding it with fruit, flowers, insects and fantastical ornament in watercolor and gold.
The letter H sits beneath a second grid showing how the letter was constructed. Above it, two monkeys — one in a plumed turban, one in a tall helmet — ride harnessed seahorses and hold banners marked with crescent moons, while a storm cloud bursting with lightning carries the words Sum qui sum (“I am who am”). The gold-lettered cartouche quotes Psalm 19: Hi in curribus et hi in equis, nos autem in nomine Domini nostri — “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we in the name of our Lord.”
The page has been carefully restored from the original manuscript: surface damage and discoloration reduced, the parchment tone balanced, and the colors and gilding brought back to life, while keeping the hand-painted character of the original.
Find your initial. A single letter makes a meaningful gift — for a nursery, a newlywed couple’s new home, or a family name — and the full Renaissance Alphabet can be hung together as a gallery wall. (The Renaissance Latin alphabet has 23 letters: J, U and W were not yet in use.)
Available as a print-ready digital download in five frame ratios.
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