Initial S: Job

Seated on a rock with his right hand supporting his head and with cankerous sores covering his naked body, the Bible figure of Job is a study in melancholy and resignation. The sense of Job's loneliness is further enforced by his isolation in the bottom half of the initial S. As described in the Bible, Job was afflicted with the loss of his wealth, family, friends, and health, but maintained his faith in God. Despite its rather depressing subject matter, the miniature is especially beautiful in the way the curving shapes of the cave spatially reinforce the curvilinear qualities of the letter itself.