The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 27, 2023

Fragment from a Lectern Bible: Initial E[t fecit Josias] with Josiah Aspersing the Altar

c. 1300

circle of Master Honoré

(French, Paris, active 1288–1300)

France, Paris, early 14th Century

Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Sheet: 10.5 x 8 cm (4 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.)

Gift from J. H. Wade 1924.428

Location

not on view

Description

This initial comes from a large bible (about 23 inches in height) and introduces the opening text of the Book of Esdras: Et fecit Josias in Jerosolymis Domino... (When Josiah celebrated the Passover festival in Jerusalem to his Lord...). The artist, a close follower of Master Honoré at Paris, set his figure against a diapered ground of alternating gold and blue diamonds with fleur-de-lys. Instead of portraying Josiah as a Jew, however, the artist abandoned historical perspective and painted him as a Christian priest sprinkling (aspersing) the altar with holy water in preparation for the Mass.

Exhibition history

The Cleveland Museum of Art (10/10/2004 - 10/02/2005); "Illuminated Manuscripts"

Cleveland Museum of Art, (11/06/2010 - 04/17/2011); "The Glory Of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collections"

Transformations of the Court Style: Gothic Art in Europe, 1270 - 1330. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (February 2-27, 1977).

The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).

Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).

The Glory of the Painted Page: Manuscript Illuminations from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 6, 2010-April 17, 2011).

Devotion and Leaning in the Middle Ages- (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.428