Maciejowski Bible

Figure from the Morgan Bible - The Israelites are from Hai sold (fol 10r.)

The Morgan Bible , also Crusader Bible , the Book of Kings or Morgan Bible called ( Pierpont Morgan Library , New York, Ms M. 638), is a medieval illustrated Bible, from 46 Folia is. It is considered a masterpiece of Gothic book illumination .

The order for this work probably came from King Ludwig IX. of France around the year 1245. Other sources suggest that the Bible came from the northern provinces of France around 1250. In its original form, the work contained only images arranged from side to side in a consistent visual rhythm.

The book consists of illustrations of the Old Testament , Hebrew tradition, which was translated from a Christian perspective in the scenery and customs of 13th century France. The large proportion of depictions of violence in the paintings is remarkable.

Lore

Latin marginal notes were added about 150 years after the book was written. The Bishop of Cracow , Cardinal Bernard Maciejowski , after whom this book is usually named, presented the Bible to the Shah of Persia , Abbas I. Under Abbas, Persian inscriptions were added. Other additional inscriptions in Judaeo-Persian were probably added in the 18th century.

The Maciejowski Bible is an important source for clothing and arms knowledge of the 13th century.

literature

• Sydney C. Cockerell, John Plummer: Old Testament miniatures. A medieval picture book with 283 paintings from Creation to the story of David . Phaidon Press, London 1969 (Contains reproductions of all miniatures of the original)
• William Noel, Daniel Weiss (Eds.): The Book of Kings. Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible Third Millennium Books, London 2002, ISBN 1-903942-16-0 (catalog for the exhibition of the same name)

Web links

Commons : Maciejowski Bible  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Explanations of image details (46 folia) (English)
• High-resolution scans of 43 Folia (English)
• Douglas Galbi: Sense in Communication , Chapter "A Masterpiece of Sensuous Communication: The Morgan Bible of Louis IX" (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Allison Stones : Questions of style and provenance in the Morgan Bible in Between the Word and the Picture , Princeton, 2005