Thursday, April 20, 2023

San Ambrogio in Milan

 In San Ambrogio church in Milan, on the walls of the porch before the church, there are marble slabs which (I am guessing) used to be floor slabs in the church. These are apparently memorials for someone who died (although I have to admit that not knowing Latin I don't know what is written on them). They seem to have been made in various epochs. Some are dated, in others I can't find anything that would suggest a date but judging after the shape of letters some may be much older than the dated ones. Anyway seeing only the dated ones one can see the evolution of lettering from the textura and Lombardic towards classical capitalis elegans.

Here I am presenting first the dated ones and following them the undated

Dated 1444


Dated 1491

Dated 1496


Dated 1498

Dated 1514

Dated 1581. Interesting is the M in the date,
made of a "C" then "I" and a "C" turned backwards.
It seems to resemble a Lombardic M

Dated 1630

Dated 1693

Undated, using Lombardic letters














There is a book available, based on this blog.  


On the blog there is, so to speak, more room, one can show more illustrations there. Blogs, however, come and go, there is no certainty that it will be there ten years from now. The book, on the other hand, once you acquire it, will last, one can be sure of that.


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