Girolamo dai Libri, Initial M with David in Prayer

1501-1502
Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 12.56.3

The text is the beginning of Vulgate Psalm 50:3-21, Miserere mei Deus ("Have mercy on me O God"). The introductory verses (Psalm 50:1-2) explain that this was what David prayed when the prophet Nathan persuaded him to repent for having Uriah killed.

Read more about King David.

Photographed at the Metropolitan by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.