The miracle of the loaves and fishes in an initial L, fragments of text, and musical staves 1367 - 1423

This delicate illumination, made by Lorenzo Monaco around 1400, combines the miracle of the loaves and fishes with musical notation on parchment. This manuscript page is not just a work of art; it’s also a functional object, part of a choir book, which would have been essential for church services. The ink drawings are made with considerable skill, and the preparation of the parchment support was labour intensive. Animal skin had to be stretched and scraped to create a smooth surface that could receive ink. The lines and staves were carefully ruled. Consider the relationship between this painstaking work and the story it tells: a miracle of abundance feeding the masses. The image shows that grace comes through labor, and the skilled work required to create the page mirrors the themes of sustenance and generosity depicted within it. We might not immediately think of a medieval manuscript in terms of labor or class, but in fact it is an object deeply embedded in both.