The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 13, 2024

Gospel Book with Commentaries

Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1942.152
Location: 105 Byzantine

Did You Know?

Gospel Books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.

Description

Each of the four Gospels in this book opens on a page with brilliantly illuminated borders depicting the author of the text as well as birds—principally peacocks, symbols of the immortality of the soul— and fountains, representing the fountain of life and the salvation of the soul. This volume consists of 428 leaves with texts in Greek. Its high level of sophistication is characteristic of monasteries in Constantinople.
  • -1942
    Dikran G. Kelekian, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1942-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Clark, Kenneth Willis. A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America. Chicago, Ill: The University of Chicago Press, 1937. pp. 122-23
    Milliken, William M. “Byzantine Manuscript Illumination” ClevelandMuseum of Art Bulletin34 (March 1947) pp. 50-56
    Milliken, William M. “Early Christian and Byzantine Art in America” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol. V (June 1947) pp. 256-68
    Diehl, Charles, Naomi Walford, and Peter Charanis. Byzantium: Greatness and Decline. 1957. p. 231
    Ricci, Seymour de, William Jerome Wilson, Christopher Urdahl Faye, and William Henry Bond. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts: In the United States and Canada. New York, N.Y.: The Bibliographical Society of America, 1962. p. 428
    Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.), and Dorothy Eugenia Miner. Early Christian and Byzantine Art, An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, April 25-June 22 [1947]. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1947. p. 138
    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
  • Princeton University, (March 9, - May 31, 1973).
    Greek and Byzantine Manuscripts. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ (organizer) (April 13-May 20, 1973).
    Twelve Masterpieces of Medieval and Renaissance Book Illumination. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 17-April 19, 1964).
    Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, (1947); no. 704, pl. XCIX.
  • {{cite web|title=Gospel Book with Commentaries|url=false|author=|year=c. 1000–1100|access-date=13 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.152