LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum presents Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscripts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance through June 12, 2005. Drawn from the Getty’s permanent collection and featuring a dozen new acquisitions, this exhibition traces the development of manuscript decoration from the medieval period to the late Renaissance, examining important regional traditions such as those of Bologna, Lombardy, Florence, and Rome. The works on view include choir books, a Bible, a shoemaker’s guild register, books of hours, and texts from classical antiquity. March 29 through June 12, 2005.

This exhibition explores Italian manuscript painting from the 1200s through the 1500s. It focuses on five centers of manuscript production in Italy, each with its own artistic traditions.

The journey begins in Bologna, site of the first European university, and ends in Rome, home to some of the greatest Renaissance works of art.

Many illuminators moved from court to court throughout Italy to work for different patrons. The maker of this saint's portrait, known as the Master of the Murano Gradual, moved to Venice after being trained in Lombardy.

Saint Blaise has a craggy and hard-edged face, but his robe and the lines in the gold ground are refined and delicate. The saint was martyred with a wool carder's brush, the red object he holds in his hand.