The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Leaf from a Psalter with Historiated Initial (B): King David

Leaf from a Psalter with Historiated Initial (B): King David

c. 1450
ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
Sheet: 45.7 x 34.3 cm (18 x 13 1/2 in.)
Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski 1964.149
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The larger size of this leaf indicates it could be used by a group of readers.

Description

Books of hours evolved from psalters, books that contained the Old Testament book of Psalms (sacred songs) for use in churches. Psalters also included calendars, prayers for the dead, and a specific group of prayers known as the Hours of the Virgin. By the 1200s, laypeople were requesting psalters without the cumbersome psalms, and thus the book of hours was born. This leaf contains Psalm 1, which begins with a large, decorated B containing an image of King David kneeling with a plucking instrument on the ground. The text says beatus vir qui non abit, or “blessed is the man.”
  • Rodolphe Kann (1845–1905), Paris, France
    Mrs. Henry E, Huntington, San Marino, CA
    -1959
    [Duveen Brothers, New York, NY, sold to Dr. Norman Zaworski]
    1959-1964
    Dr. Norman Zaworski (1921-2013), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1964-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Catalogue of the Rodolphe Kann Collection: Pictures. Paris: C. Sedelmeyer, 1907. Vol. 1, no. 76
    Milliken, William Mathewson. Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the Early XVIth Centuries: An Exhibition. Berkeley: University of California, 1963. no. 54
    Pillsbury, Edmund P. Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage. 1971. Cat. no. 47
    Levi D'Ancona, Mirella, and Angela Dillon Bussi. The illuminators and illuminations of the choir books from Santa Maria degli Angeli and Santa Maria Nuova and their documents. Florence: Centro Di, 1994. p. 66
    Levi D'Ancona, Mirella. I corali del monastero di Santa Maria degli Angeli: e le loro miniature asportate : 15 giugno-31 luglio 1995, Biblioteca medicea laurenziana, Firenze : catalogo. Firenze: Centro Di, 1995. p. 165, no. 52
  • The Medieval Top Seller: The Book of Hours (Gallery 115 rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-July 30, 2023).
    The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).
    Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
    Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the Early XVIth Centuries, University Art Gallery, Berkeley CA (April 24 to June 8, 1963).
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf from a Psalter with Historiated Initial (B): King David|url=false|author=|year=c. 1450|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.149