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 O is set into a pink-veined marble pedestal, beneath a second grid showing the compass-drawn circles used to construct it. Above, a winged heart with watchful eyes crowns the page, flanked by peacock feathers, ribboned rings and long blue pendants, with a bird at rest on the ledge. The gold-lettered cartouche quotes Psalm 24: Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, quoniam ipse evellet de laqueo pedes meos — “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare.”
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.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.