VISUAL THEOLOGY

Leaf from a Missal, ca. 1290, Northeast French; Beauvais (?), Tempera and gold leaf, on parchment, (28.9 x 18.4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) ■ With its marriage of elegant foliate decoration and refined lettering, this leaf from a missal is characteristic of Gothic manuscript illumination in northern France. The taut vines and letters are close to those on a number of manuscript leaves attributed to the city of Beauvais. The text comprises the special prayers for the feast of Saint John the Baptist (June 24): readings from Psalm 91 and the Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Gradual, the Gloria, and the Alleluia ■