Rabbula Gospels

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Rabbula Gospels, fol. 13v (detail): Crucifixion of Christ

The Rabbula Gospel is a Syrian parchment manuscript of the four Gospels from the year 586 (fol. 20–292) with illuminated leaves in front (fol. 1–14). A list of pericopes on sheets of paper (fol. 15–19, 12th century) is inserted between the two parts . The manuscript has been in Florence since 1573 , today in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana , cod. Plut. 1.56. From the 14th to the beginning of the 16th century it was owned by the Maronite Patriarchate (Qannubin Monastery in Wadi Qadisha ). The manuscript includes all four Gospels ( Tetraevangeliar ) and was completed in 586 in the Johannes monastery of Zagba near Apamea . The Bible text was copied by the scribe Rabbula (also Rabulas), about whom nothing is known in detail, but to whom the code owes its current name.

In their current state, the illuminated leaves are 34 cm by 27 cm. The original size is unknown because they were cropped when they were rebinded. Her compositions are very similar to the four miniatures that were created at the same time or at the beginning of the 7th century and are included at the end of the Armenian Echmiadzin Gospel .

text

The text is the Peschitta version of the Syrian translation of the Gospels . It is written in black or dark brown ink in two columns with different numbers of lines. Below many of the columns there are footnotes written in red ink.

Overview of the representations

The biblical text is preceded by an illustrated layer of leaves whose original membership in the Rabbula Code is disputed. The pictures were painted over in the 15th or 16th century. They contain one of the first historical images of the crucifixion and also one of the first depictions of Pentecost . The following scenes from the Gospels are depicted:

  • fol 9v: Matthias and Johannes

  • fol. 13v: Crucifixion of Christ

  • fol. 13v: Ascension of Christ

  • fol. 14v: outpouring of the Holy Spirit

  • fol. 4v: canon table

The crucifixion picture

The crucifixion image in the Rabbula Gospels ( fol.13a ) shows Christ on the cross, clad in a sleeveless robe ( colobium ), below on the right Mary with John and Longinus , on the left Stephaton , who hands Christ the sponge. In the foreground a group of three Roman soldiers is shown throwing the dice for Christ's skirt, as well as a group of women.

The Ascension picture

In the Ascension picture in the Rabbula Gospels (fol.14a), Christ hovers head-on in a mandorla in heaven, while Mary and the apostles stand on earth, among them are the angels who, according to Acts 1, 9 ff., Announce his return to those who have stayed behind . The mandorla lifts a being with two multi-eyed pairs of wings and the four heads of a human being, an ox, an eagle and a lion. It is the first known illustration of a cherub.

The Pentecost picture

The Pentecost picture in the Rabbula Gospels (fol. 14b) shows the outpouring of the Holy Spirit ; to the left and right of Mary stand the apostles, flames of fire over their heads, the Holy Spirit hovers over Mary like a dove .

Master of the Rabbula Gospel

The artist and his workshop, not known by name , who painted the pictures of the Rabbula Gospel, was occasionally referred to in unscientific literature as the "Master of the Rabula Gospel".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry in the Catalogo aperto der Laurenziana with a description of the manuscript, bibliography and digitized version of the manuscript
  2. ↑ Henriette Mendelsohn : The angels in the fine arts. A contribution to the art history of the Gothic and Renaissance periods . B. Behrs, Berlin 1907, p. 36 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Directmedia Publishing GmbH (Ed.): The Yorck Project: 10,000 masterpieces of painting . DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202

literature

  • Carlo Cecchelli et al. a. (Ed.): Evangeliarii Syriaci, vulgo Rabbulae , Olten / Lausanne 1959 excerpt
  • David H. Wright: The date and arrangement of the illustrations in the Rabbula Gospels. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 27, 1973, pp. 197-208.
  • Marlia Mundell Mango: Where was Beth Zaga? , in: Harvard Ukrainian Studies 7 (1983) 405-430.
  • Massimo Bernabò (Ed.): Il Tetravangelo di Rabbula. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 1.56: L'illustrazione del Nuovo Testamento nella Siria del VI secolo , Rome 2008, ISBN 978-88-8498-516-3 .
  • Pier Giorgio Borbone, L'itinéraire du “Codex de Rabbula” selon ses marginales , in: Sur les pas des Araméems chrétiens, Festschrift Alain Desreumaux. Paris 2010, pp. 169-180.

Web links

Commons : Rabula Gospels  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files