St Agnes with her attribute the Lamb, historiated initial from a Choirbook, in Latin [Italy, Lombardy, c.1490-1500]

cutting, 165x176mm, vellum, initial 'B', reverse with remains of two lines of music and text on four-line red staves, rastrum 44mm, some rubbing to the gold leaf, small pigment loss, small retouching to sky, cutting enclosed within modern vellum and scrolling acanthus completed on modern addition, in an attractive 19th-century gilt frame

The style of this artist typifies the development in Lombard illumination towards the end of the 15th century. Most characteristic are the intense and saturated tones and decorative forms. The elegant saint holds a large book with an eye-catching lamb and is set into a stylised landscape. Agnes is depicted with this symbol, as the Latin word for lamb, 'agnus', sounds like her name.