Illumination Excised from a Choir Book: Two Female Angels

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this manuscript as tempera and gold on parchment and credits Niccolo di ser Sozzo Tegliacci (Italian, Siena, active 1334–63).

The museum's collection notes: This miniature was taken from a choir book and shows two female figures. Their golden halos mark them as saints and the lily scepters as virgins. It is attributed to the Sienese painter Niccolò di ser Sozzo. Although more than half of the population of Siena is said to have died of the plague, the city’s finances recovered quickly. In the arts, however, there is a continuation of the traditions of the first half of the century, of which Niccolò is a characteristic representative. It is therefore often difficult to decide whether a work was created before or after the plague wave.