Master of the Viennese Genesis

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Master of the Vienna Genesis: Vienna Genesis, scene: Joseph and the wife of Potiphar. End of the 6th century, Austrian National Library
Master of the Viennese Genesis: Wiener Genesis, scene: Rebekka and Eliezar. End of the 6th century, Austrian National Library
Master of the Viennese Genesis: Viennese Genesis, scene: Noah. End of the 6th century, Austrian National Library

As a master of the Vienna Genesis are illuminators referred to today in the first half of the 6th century Vienna Genesis called manuscript have imagined. 48 illuminations to illustrate the Book of Genesis have been preserved (Vienna, Austrian National Library, cod. Theol. Gr. 31).

Emergence

The pictures of the masters of the Viennese Genesis painted on parchment were probably made around 540 AD in the Syrian region, perhaps in Antioch or in Byzantium . The manuscript and its pictures belong to the group of so-called purple manuscripts of late antiquity. They are considered a major work of Byzantine book illumination .

Bible illustrations

The work of the masters of the Viennese Genesis shows that Judaeo-Christian art and handicrafts dealt with depictions of biblical subjects from an early age. The Vienna Genesis, along with the Cotton Genesis, is one of the early illustrated manuscripts of parts of the Bible from late antiquity, which prove that Bible texts, or at least parts of them, have been illustrated since the 5th century.

Number of painters

It is controversial how many painters created the pictures for the Vienna Genesis, whereby between eleven and six painters should be recognizable by different working methods and color choices.

literature

  • Otto Mazal (Ed.): Wiener Genesis. Illuminated purple parchment manuscript from the 6th century, facsimile of Codex theol. gr. 31 of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Blackboard and commentary volume . Berlin, Insel Verlag 1980
  • Paul Buberl: The Byzantine Manuscripts: 1. The Vienna Dioscurides and the Vienna Genesis (Descriptive Directory of the Illuminated Manuscripts in Austria. Volume VIII: The Illuminated Manuscripts and Incunabula of the National Library in Vienna, Part IV: The Byzantine Manuscripts). Leipzig, Verlag Karl W. Hiersemann 1937
  • Barbara Zimmermann: The Vienna Genesis in the context of ancient book illumination. Iconography, representation, method of illustration and intention to make a statement . Wiesbaden, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag 2003

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barbara Zimmermann: The Viennese Genesis in the context of ancient book illumination. Iconography, representation, method of illustration and intention to make a statement . Wiesbaden, Dr. Ludwig Reichert 2003, p. 223