3-039-467 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Cutting from an Antiphonal, about 1465. Additional Info:The women's upturned, grasping palms beautifully convey their adoration of Christ, tenderly answered by Christ's gesture. The N , removed from a choir book at some point in the past, was the first letter of a chant sung during the Easter season. The scene is a variation of an episode described in the Gospel of John: Mary Magdalene, distressed at finding Christ's tomb empty, at first mistook the risen Christ for a gardener. Here the handle of a gardener's spade also serves as the staff of the banner of the Resurrection. Another historiated initial by Rigossi depicting the women at the tomb may have been taken from the same choir book.