The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 3, 2023

Leaf from a Greek Psalter and New Testament

1084

Byzantium, Constantinople, 11th century

Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Sheet: 16.3 x 10.9 cm (6 7/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Framed: 44.5 x 34.3 cm (17 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1950.154

Location

105 Byzantine

Fun Fact

Imported illuminated manuscripts were important in spreading the Byzantine style throughout Western Europe.

Description

The decoration of this leaf is dominated by a half-page miniature representing the Apostle Peter. Below the miniature are 13 lines of Greek text (the first six verses of Peter's Epistle) introduced by a figure initial of the Greek letter Pi. The vertical members of the letter are composed of Christ and Saint Peter, and are probably intended to recall the words of Christ who, upon encountering Peter as he was leaving Rome asked, "Where goest thou?" The present leaf comes from a combined Psalter and New Testament which, on the basis of its sophisticated style, was undoubtedly produced in a workshop in Constantinople. The parent manuscript was given to the Pantokrator Monastery on Mount Athos (founded 1363) by its aristocratic, possibly imperial, owner.

Provenance
-1950
Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1950-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
Citations
Lambros, Spyr. P. Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts on Mount Athos. Cambridge: Univ. Pr, 1900. p. 98, no. 1083
Capps, Edward Jr. "Byzantine Manuscript Illumination." AllenMemorial Art Museum Bulletin XV (Winter 1958) p. 47
Dumbarton Oaks. Dumbarton Oaks Papers. Number Nineteen. Number Nineteen. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, 1965. pp. 155-183 fig. 34
Weitzmann, Kurt. Studies in Classical and Byzantine Manuscript Illumination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. p. 277 & 280
Lionnais, François le. "La Chronique des Arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts (October, 1973) p. 22
Der Nersessian, Sirarpie. Études Byzantines Et Arméniennes. Byzantine and Armenian Studies. Louvain: Impr. orientaliste, 1973. p. 139 (vol.1), p. 30 (vol. 2)
Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. p. 99
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. p. 86
Morey, C.R. “The Sources of Medieval Style” Art Bulletin, VII (December 1924) p. 38
Weitzmann, Kurt. Illustrations in Roll and Codex; A Study of the Origin and Method of Text Illustration. Princeton [N.J.]: Princeton University Press, 1970.
Weitzmann, Kurt. “The Constantinopolitan Lectionary.” Studies in Art and Literature for Belle da Costa Greene (1954)
Dalton, O. M. Byzantine Art and Archaeology. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1911. p. 467-68
Campbell, Thomas P. Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002. p. 111, Cat. No. 51
Rosenwein, Barbara H. Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World. 2014. Cover
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 82 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 40 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 40 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 42 archive.org
Exhibition history

Exhibition of Byzantine and Medieval Art, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, (September 1954).

Liturgical Arts, Chapman Gallery at Milwaukee-Downer College, Milwaukee, WI, (March 1955).

Bladwin Fund Special Advanced Seminar, The Dudley Peter Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH, (December 3-20, 1957).

Greek Manuscripts from American Collections: An Exhibition in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, (1973).

Greek and Byzantine Manuscripts. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ (organizer) (April 13-May 20, 1973).

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

The Glory of Byzantium. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3-July 6, 1997).

Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.154