The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This large-format copy of the New Testament was almost certainly created at Rochester Cathedral Priory, England, in the first half of the twelfth century. It was part of a five-volume Bible, only one other volume of which, London, British Library Ms. Royal I.C.VII, has survived. The decorated initials in these manuscripts compare closely with those in other books securely attributed to Rochester. Textually these books are closely related to the Gundulph Bible (San Marino, Huntington Library Ms. HM 62), known to have been produced at Rochester in the second half of the eleventh century. Although neither the Walters' nor the British Library's volume includes an inscription associating this Bible with Rochester, the two medieval catalogs of the Rochester Cathedral library, produced around 1130 and in 1202, contain references to manuscripts that correspond well with them. The book’s large size indicates it that was designed to be read aloud, either during services or at meals in the refectory. Large, fanciful initials filled with succulent foliage, fruit, dragons, animals, and human faces begin each section of the text. Executed in a vibrant palette of red, blue, green, ochre (in place of gold), and yellow, the intricate, dynamic designs capture the essence of Romanesque manuscript illumination. Royal I.C.VII also includes four historiated initials (for the books of Joshua, I Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 2 Kings). Although the Bible was made at Rochester, the pre-Gothic script of W.18 in particular is extremely close to that practiced at nearby Canterbury at the time.
Written in pre-Gothic bookhand, with a smaller version used for chapter lists; opening words of each book in majuscule display script; scribe writing in a script particularly associated with Christ Church Canterbury and houses under its influence in the early twelfth century; suggested by Richards that this volume was written by a Christ Church Canterbury scribe
Principal cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Principal cataloger: Noel, William
Principal cataloger: Smith, Kathryn
Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Noel, William
Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Dutschke, Consuelo
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Grollemond, Larisa
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 766, no. 57.
Walters Art Gallery. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949, no. 19, pl. XIII.
Dodwell, C. R. The Canterbury School of Illumination, 1066-1200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954, pp. 65, 74, 119, fig. 37g (fol. 146).
Boase, T. S. R. English Art 1100-1216. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959, pp. 63-65, 160, fig. 19b.
Walters Art Gallery. 2,000 Years of Calligraphy. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1965, no. 22.
Berkowitz, David S. In Remembrance of Creation: Evolution of Art and Scholarship in the Medieval and Renaissance Bible. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 1968, no. 65.
Alexander, J. J. G., and C. M. Kauffmann. English Illuminated Manuscripts 700-1500. Brussels: Bibliotheque Royale Albert, 1973, pp. 52-53, no. 26, pl. II.
Kauffmann, C. M. Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190. Vol. 3. London: Harvey Miller, 1975, no. 45, figs. 123-126.
Richards, Mary P. "A Decorated Vulgate Set from a 12th Century Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 39 (1981): 59-67, figs. 1, 2, 6.
Quandt, Abigail B. 1986. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, preprint of a paper presented at the fourteenth annual meeting, Chicago, May 21-25, 1986 (The Conservation of a Twelfth Century Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum) 97-113.
Burin, Elizabeth. "Mixing Styles on the Pilgrimage Roads: A Romanesque Manuscript in the Walters Art Gallery." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 54 (1996): 9-20, fig. 16 (fol. 1r).
Noel, William, and Daniel Weiss. The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. London: Third Millennium Publishing; Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2002, p. 150, no. 1 (fol. 161v).
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Rochester, England
Ca. 1130 CE
book
Non-original Binding
New binding made of alum-processed pigskin and quarter-sawn oak boards by Abigail Quandt, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 1986; previous binding probably by Leon Gruel, early 20th century, constructed of five recessed cords laced into heavy millboards covered in red silk; manuscript rebound two or three times since the twelfth century
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Priory scriptorium of Rochester Cathedral, England, twelfth century
Leon Gruel collection, no. 1138, Paris, before 1931
Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Gruel, before 1931
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest
Rochester, England
Ca. 1130 CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Priory scriptorium of Rochester Cathedral, England, twelfth century
Leon Gruel collection, no. 1138, Paris, before 1931
Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Gruel, before 1931
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest
This large-format copy of the New Testament was almost certainly created at Rochester Cathedral Priory, England, in the first half of the twelfth century. It was part of a five-volume Bible, only one other volume of which, London, British Library Ms. Royal I.C.VII, has survived. The decorated initials in these manuscripts compare closely with those in other books securely attributed to Rochester. Textually these books are closely related to the Gundulph Bible (San Marino, Huntington Library Ms. HM 62), known to have been produced at Rochester in the second half of the eleventh century. Although neither the Walters' nor the British Library's volume includes an inscription associating this Bible with Rochester, the two medieval catalogs of the Rochester Cathedral library, produced around 1130 and in 1202, contain references to manuscripts that correspond well with them. The book’s large size indicates it that was designed to be read aloud, either during services or at meals in the refectory. Large, fanciful initials filled with succulent foliage, fruit, dragons, animals, and human faces begin each section of the text. Executed in a vibrant palette of red, blue, green, ochre (in place of gold), and yellow, the intricate, dynamic designs capture the essence of Romanesque manuscript illumination. Royal I.C.VII also includes four historiated initials (for the books of Joshua, I Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 2 Kings). Although the Bible was made at Rochester, the pre-Gothic script of W.18 in particular is extremely close to that practiced at nearby Canterbury at the time.
Written in pre-Gothic bookhand, with a smaller version used for chapter lists; opening words of each book in majuscule display script; scribe writing in a script particularly associated with Christ Church Canterbury and houses under its influence in the early twelfth century; suggested by Richards that this volume was written by a Christ Church Canterbury scribe
Principal cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Principal cataloger: Noel, William
Principal cataloger: Smith, Kathryn
Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Noel, William
Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Dutschke, Consuelo
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Grollemond, Larisa
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 766, no. 57.
Walters Art Gallery. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949, no. 19, pl. XIII.
Dodwell, C. R. The Canterbury School of Illumination, 1066-1200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954, pp. 65, 74, 119, fig. 37g (fol. 146).
Boase, T. S. R. English Art 1100-1216. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959, pp. 63-65, 160, fig. 19b.
Walters Art Gallery. 2,000 Years of Calligraphy. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1965, no. 22.
Berkowitz, David S. In Remembrance of Creation: Evolution of Art and Scholarship in the Medieval and Renaissance Bible. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 1968, no. 65.
Alexander, J. J. G., and C. M. Kauffmann. English Illuminated Manuscripts 700-1500. Brussels: Bibliotheque Royale Albert, 1973, pp. 52-53, no. 26, pl. II.
Kauffmann, C. M. Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190. Vol. 3. London: Harvey Miller, 1975, no. 45, figs. 123-126.
Richards, Mary P. "A Decorated Vulgate Set from a 12th Century Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 39 (1981): 59-67, figs. 1, 2, 6.
Quandt, Abigail B. 1986. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, preprint of a paper presented at the fourteenth annual meeting, Chicago, May 21-25, 1986 (The Conservation of a Twelfth Century Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum) 97-113.
Burin, Elizabeth. "Mixing Styles on the Pilgrimage Roads: A Romanesque Manuscript in the Walters Art Gallery." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 54 (1996): 9-20, fig. 16 (fol. 1r).
Noel, William, and Daniel Weiss. The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. London: Third Millennium Publishing; Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2002, p. 150, no. 1 (fol. 161v).
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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