Artwork Page for Medallion from the Border of a Latin Bible: The Sixth Day of Creation

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Medallion from the Border of a Latin Bible: The Sixth Day of Creation

early 1300s
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Measurements
Sheet: 7 cm (2 3/4 in.)
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view

Description

As revealed by their subjects and blank versos (reverse sides), these medallions were undoubtedly excised from a Genesis page in a large lectern Bible. Typically, such medallions would have appeared in conjunction with a large-scale historiated initial I running the full length of the text and introducing the book of Genesis: In principio creativit Deus caelum et terram (In the beginning God created heaven and earth). Such schemes of page layout and decoration were common features of Bibles produced in Bolognese workshops and destined for wealthy religious institutions of the Emilian region, for which Bologna was the artistic and intellectual center.
A circular tempera painting depicts a nude man looking and reaching out toward a person wrapped in white with a gold halo floating in on a cloud against a solid blue sky. Below, a central green tree with red dots leans right in a pale brown landscape. A white bird, blue, orange, and brown four-legged animals, and a small, curled-up creature with pointy ears all face the nude man. A gray-green stripe encircles the painting.

Medallion from the Border of a Latin Bible: The Sixth Day of Creation

early 1300s

Primo Miniatore di San Domenico

(Italian)
Italy, Bologna

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