Artwork
Initial I with David
Initial I with David is a drawing by the Renaissance artist Master of the Cypresses. It dates from 1434 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1434, the Initial I with David is a small-scale drawing on vellum, measuring only a few inches in height. The composition places a kneeling figure within the confines of a large, decorative capital letter I. The work is attributed to the Master of the Cypresses, an active painter and illuminator in Seville during the early fifteenth century.
Subject & Meaning
The figure depicted is a robed man, crowned in gold and dressed in blue and red, holding a diminutive object in his right hand while gesturing upward. The iconography suggests a representation of the biblical David, presented in a devotional pose that aligns with the liturgical function of choirbook initials, reinforcing themes of piety and royal authority.
Technique & Style
Executed in bright, flat pigments without modeling, the miniature displays a bold color palette of red, gold, green, blue, and red. The lack of chiaroscuro creates a two-dimensional effect typical of early Netherlandish illumination, while the compositional arrangement and figure treatment echo Italian precedents, notably the influence of Giotto’s narrative clarity.
History & Provenance
The piece was identified as the work of the Master of the Cypresses by art historian Diego Angulo Íñiguez in 1928. The artist earned his name from the distinctive pointed green cypress trees that recur in his historiated initials for the choirbooks of Seville Cathedral, linking this miniature to a broader corpus of ecclesiastical manuscript decoration from the period.
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Artist & collection
Artist
The Master of the Cypresses is a notname invented by the art historian Diego Angulo Íñiguez in 1928 for a painter and manuscript illuminator working in Seville around the years 1420–1440.
