3-041-150 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Initial A: Two Men before a King and A Man Speaking to a Family; Vidal Mayor, about 1290-1310. Additional Info:This scene illustrates a portion of the text devoted to the legal rights of orphans. In the top half of the image, a man in a red robe speaks with the king about the sale of a piece of property. He appears again to the far right, having received the king's judgment. Below, he is shown a third time, approaching a couple and a small child. Because the man's petition to sell the property would deprive the child of his rights to the estate, it is denied. The two scenes take place in the upper and lower halves of an initial A. The letter is formed by the arching body of a dragon; the beast's folded wings are seen on the left while its small doglike head is at the lower right. The two human-headed birds perched on top of the square frame add liveliness to the page.