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| Giovanni di Paolo Initial A with Christ and David ca. 1440 Getty |
These painted initial letters were ornamented with microscopic narrative scenes during the 1400s and early 1500s. This was already a late epoch in the history of illuminated manuscripts. By the time these samples were created in Italy the art-form was gasping its few final breaths. Though they are well preserved today at the Getty in Los Angeles, most of these lovelies were mutilated in the past, sliced out of surrounding text. The greatest sinners in this regard were dealers rather than collectors. It is much easier to sell a pretty little picture on a scrap of vellum than a great unwieldy handwritten treatise in a script nobody can read on a subject nobody any longer cares about.
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| Italian Painter Initial D with Noah and the Ark ca. 1495-1510 Getty |
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| Italian Painter Initial G with St. Blaise 1450s Getty |
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| attributed to Pisanello Initial S with the conversion of Paul 1440s Getty |
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| attributed to Stefano da Verona Initial A with Pentecost ca. 1430-35 Getty |
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| Bartolomeo Rigossi Initial A with Women at the Tomb ca. 1465 Getty |
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| Bartolomeo Rigossi Initial N with Christ & the three Marys ca. 1465 Getty |
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| Franco dei Russi Initial E with the Adoration of the Magi 1470s Getty |
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| Matteo da Milano Initial T with Crucifixion ca. 1520 Getty |
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| Italian Painter Initial L with the Baptism of St Augustine ca. 1430 Getty |
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| Francesco di Antonio del Chierico Initial S with Job ca. 1475 Getty |
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| Italian Painter Initial E with St John the Evangelist early 16th century Getty |
In relation to the font-size on the screen, illuminations are reproduced larger than life.