Left: Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (Italian, 1339-1399), Historiated Initial V with a Prophet, cut from a Gradual, Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence, Italy, ca. 1392-99. Painting on vellum. Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909, MS M.478.17
Right: Emmet Gowin (American, b. 1941), Edith, 1986. Toned gelatin silver print. Collection of Emmet and Edith Gowin
Gowin created this image by combining two exposures he made during the same summer: a portrait of his wife, Edith, nude in a barn window, and a study of gourds that sprouted spontaneously from the compost pile in their garden.
The unidentified prophet inside this jewel-faced letter resides simultaneously amid nature—leaves, petals, and other plant forms—and in a spiritual realm signified by gold.