bavarikon4UDescription
This early 15th-century missal was written and illuminated by Petrus Krüger from Breslau for the abbot of Saint Emmeram, Ratisbon (present-day Regensburg). One of the original illuminations (folio 32v), however, has been largely replaced by a miniature that for stylistic reasons has been ascribed to the Ratisbon painter Berthold Furtmeyr (active 1460-1501). This miniature equals, in style and artistic quality, the picture pages in the Salzburg feast missal, Furtmeyr's mature masterpiece. Apart from the Furtmeyr crucifixion group, the manuscript contains two other remarkable miniatures. The first portrays Abbot Petrus Pettendorfer, identifiable by his coat of arms, kneeling in front of the patron saints of the church: Emmeram, Dionysius, and Wolfgang (folio 10v). The second miniature by Krüger displays the expectant Virgin. In addition to the miniatures, 53 initials referring to the ensuing texts for the mass and five initials with leaves and tendrils decorate the manuscript. The miniatures and the initials are painted in gouache opaque watercolors: blue, red, orange, green, rose, yellow, brown, and gold. The iconography reflects elements from the Ratisbon or the Bohemian traditions, the technique and the bright contrasting colors derive from Silesian influences.