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 Psalter, with an additional Office of the Dead, was created in the late thirteenth century in northeastern France. A large quantity of Franciscan saints in the calendar and litany, as well as marginal imagery of them, suggests that the original owner had a strong affinity for that order. The manuscript was likely begun for one patron but finished for another, given a change in scribal and artistic hands and the addition of heraldry from Psalm 109 onward. Arms for the Fieschi family, as well as a birth notice in the calendar, identify the manuscript's first owner as Leonardo dei Fieschi, a Genoese nobleman (d. 1331). Among a multitude of drolleries, the manuscript contains a number of unusual marginal vignettes depicting SS. Francis, Clare, and Elisabeth of Hungary. One image of St. Francis (fol. 139v) is heavily worn, which may be evidence of devotional touching by the manuscript's owner.
Textura, written in a fifteenth-century Italian hand
Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Copy editor: Dibble, Charles
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Izer, Emily
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Schuele, Allyson
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Wiegand, Kimber
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; cat. no. 91.
Miner, D. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, exhibition catalogue. Baltimore, MD: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949; cat. no. 57.
Miner, D. The History of Bookbinding, 525-526, exhibition catalogue. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1957; p. 84, cat. no. 192.
Diringer, David. The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production. London: Philosophical Library, 1958; p. 387.
De Marinis, T. La legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI: Notizie ed elenchi. Vol 3. Florence, 1960; pp. 56, 58, no. 2847 bis.
Randall, Lilian M.C. "The Fieschi Psalter." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 23 (1960): 27-47, figs. 1-9, 11, 13.
Randall, Lilian M.C. "The Snail in Gothic Marginal Warfare." Speculum 37, no. 3 (1962): 358-367; pp. 358, 359, 367 (n. 9), 367 (fig. 1).
Randall, Lilian M.C. Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966; p. 37 and pasim, figs. 61, 143, 177, 242, 248, 309, 386, 572, 611, 643.
Randall, Lilian M.C. "Psalms to Be Seen." Arts in Virginia 7, no. 1 (1966): 21-29; pp. 21-29, figs. 3, 5, II.
Verdier, P. "Woman in the Marginalia of Gothic Manuscripts and Related Works." In The Role of Women in the Middle Ages, edited by R. T. Morewedge. Albany, NY, 1975; pp. 139, 157 (n. 109), fig. 23.
Gómez, Isabel Matteo. Temas profanos en la escultura gótica española: Las sillerías de coro. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1979; pp. 54-57 Pl. V, fig. 27.
Sed-Rajna, G. A Màjmúni Kódex..." A Budapesti 'Misné Tóra' legszebb lapjai. Budapest, 1980; pp. 26, 32 (n. 24), fig. 12.
Calkins, R. "Drollery," Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York, 1982; pp. 293b, illustration, 294a.
Das Graduale von Sankt Katharinenthal: Kommentar, edited by Schweizerisches Landesmuseum. Luzern, 1983; p. 194, figs. 42-43.
Fitzgerald, W. "Ocelli Nominum: Names and Shelf Marks of Famous/Familiar Manuscripts (I)." Medieval Studies 45 (1983): 214-297; p. 274.
Randall, Lilian M.C. Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature, Highlights from the Collection of the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1984; Pl. 16.
Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 1. France, 875-1420. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1989; pp. 107-111, cat. no. 45.
Lewis, Suzanne. Beyond the Frame: Marginal Figures and Historiated Initials in the Getty Apocalypse. The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 20 (1992): 53-76; p. 75-76 (n. 16 for p. 63).
Friedman, John B. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000; pp. 137-138 (fig. 39).
Düriegl, Ursula. Die Fabelwesen von St. Jakob in Kastelaz bei Tramin.: Romanische Bilderwelt antiken und vorantiken Ursprungs. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2003; p. 77, fig. 40.
Büttner, F.O. "Form and History: Der illuminierte Psalter im Westen." In The Illuminated Psalter. Edited by F.O. Büttner, 1-106. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004; p. 65 (n. 104), 95 (n. 56).
Mellinkoff, Ruth. Averting Demons: The Protective Power of Medieval Visual Motifs and Themes. 2 vols. Los Angeles: Ruth Mellinkoff Publications, 2004; vol. 1, p. 20, 128-129, vol. 2, p. 220-221 (figs. VI.II-VI.IIA).
Gardill, Ingrid. Sancta Benedicta: Missionarin, Märtyrerin, Patronin ; der Prachtcodex aus dem Frauenkloster Sainte-Benoîte in Origny. Petersberg, Hesse: Michael Imhof Verlag Publications, 2005; p. 155.
Hunt, Elizabeth Moore. Illuminating the Border of French and Flemish Manuscripts, 1270–1310. London: Routledge, 2006; 198.
Bräm, Andreas. "'Fratrum minorum mater': Heiligenbilder als Angleichung und zum Patronat in Frankreich und Flandern und in der Anjou-Hofkunst Neapels." In Elisabeth von Thüringen: eine europäische Heilige, vol. 2. Edited by Uwe John and Dieter Blume, 309-324. Hesse: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2007; pp. 314 (Abb. 6), 323 (n. 36 for p. 313).
Sattler, Veronika. "Nacktheit am Rande. Die Darstellung von Nacktheit in der gotischen Marginalillustration." In "Und sie erkannten, dass sie nackt waren.": Nacktheit im Mittelalter: Ergebnisse einer interdisziplinären Tagung des Zentrums für Mittelalterstudien der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 3.& 4. November 2006. Edited by Stefan Biessenecker, 185-210. Bamberg: Bamberg University Press, 2008; pp. 188, 189.
Wirth, Jean, and Isabelle Engammare. Les marges à drôleries des manuscrits gothiques, 1250-1350. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2008; pp. 64, 229, 232, 257, 291-292, 331-333, 352.
Bagliani, Agostino. Il papato nel secolo XIII: cent'anni di bibliografia. Florence: Sismel, 2010; p. 3332.
Dillon, Emma. The Sense of Sound: Musical Meaning in France, 1260-1330. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012; pp. 182, 192, 236-237.
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.
Northeast France/Flanders?
Last quarter 13th century CE
book
Non-original Binding
Rebound in Genoa, Italy, in sixteenth century by Viviano of Verase, of Thread Lane; dark brown leather over beech boards; stamped imagery on upper cover in two columns, reading from the top left down, then from the bottom right up: Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Agony in the Garden, Flagellation, Carrying the Cross, Crucifixion, Resurrection; borders around images comprised mainly of saints and possibly one soldier bearing a sword, with the bust of Christ blessing with rays emanating from him in top border, the initials "IHS" flanked by dragons in the bottom border, and evangelist symbols in the four corners; lower cover has vase of lillies and vines with small figures of an angel kneeling in front of the Virgin (Annunciation), two praying angels below, and a falcon attacking a hare facing a club-wielding man riding a lion, possibly Samson; the inscription around the image reads, clockwise from top left: OPUS. VIVIANI DE. VARIXIO. CARTARII. IN. CARUBEO. FILLI. IAN.; remains of original brass clasps survive on lower board
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Created in northeastern France or Flanders, probably in Cambrai region, in the late thirteenth century; Franciscan interests of original owner evident in saints chosen for calendar and litany, and in marginal drolleries of Franciscan nuns; likely intended owner changed halfway through creation, as hand change evident for scribe and artist starting at fol. 191r, and decoration seems to have been carried out quickly, as line fillers mostly unfinished
Leonardo dei Fieschi of Genoa, owned ca. 1290; his birth notice in calendar for Jan. 30, fol. 4r; his arms in borders of second half of manuscript, beginning with fol. 182v
Unknown owner, second half of nineteenth century, added pencil notation on front pastedown "Add. Ms. 19"
Léon or Paul Gruel, Paris, early twentieth century; Gruel note previously attached to front pastedown, now in file
Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel before 1931
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
Northeast France/Flanders?
Last quarter 13th century CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Created in northeastern France or Flanders, probably in Cambrai region, in the late thirteenth century; Franciscan interests of original owner evident in saints chosen for calendar and litany, and in marginal drolleries of Franciscan nuns; likely intended owner changed halfway through creation, as hand change evident for scribe and artist starting at fol. 191r, and decoration seems to have been carried out quickly, as line fillers mostly unfinished
Leonardo dei Fieschi of Genoa, owned ca. 1290; his birth notice in calendar for Jan. 30, fol. 4r; his arms in borders of second half of manuscript, beginning with fol. 182v
Unknown owner, second half of nineteenth century, added pencil notation on front pastedown "Add. Ms. 19"
Léon or Paul Gruel, Paris, early twentieth century; Gruel note previously attached to front pastedown, now in file
Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel before 1931
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
This Psalter, with an additional Office of the Dead, was created in the late thirteenth century in northeastern France. A large quantity of Franciscan saints in the calendar and litany, as well as marginal imagery of them, suggests that the original owner had a strong affinity for that order. The manuscript was likely begun for one patron but finished for another, given a change in scribal and artistic hands and the addition of heraldry from Psalm 109 onward. Arms for the Fieschi family, as well as a birth notice in the calendar, identify the manuscript's first owner as Leonardo dei Fieschi, a Genoese nobleman (d. 1331). Among a multitude of drolleries, the manuscript contains a number of unusual marginal vignettes depicting SS. Francis, Clare, and Elisabeth of Hungary. One image of St. Francis (fol. 139v) is heavily worn, which may be evidence of devotional touching by the manuscript's owner.
Textura, written in a fifteenth-century Italian hand
Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Copy editor: Dibble, Charles
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Izer, Emily
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Schuele, Allyson
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Wiegand, Kimber
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; cat. no. 91.
Miner, D. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, exhibition catalogue. Baltimore, MD: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949; cat. no. 57.
Miner, D. The History of Bookbinding, 525-526, exhibition catalogue. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1957; p. 84, cat. no. 192.
Diringer, David. The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production. London: Philosophical Library, 1958; p. 387.
De Marinis, T. La legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI: Notizie ed elenchi. Vol 3. Florence, 1960; pp. 56, 58, no. 2847 bis.
Randall, Lilian M.C. "The Fieschi Psalter." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 23 (1960): 27-47, figs. 1-9, 11, 13.
Randall, Lilian M.C. "The Snail in Gothic Marginal Warfare." Speculum 37, no. 3 (1962): 358-367; pp. 358, 359, 367 (n. 9), 367 (fig. 1).
Randall, Lilian M.C. Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966; p. 37 and pasim, figs. 61, 143, 177, 242, 248, 309, 386, 572, 611, 643.
Randall, Lilian M.C. "Psalms to Be Seen." Arts in Virginia 7, no. 1 (1966): 21-29; pp. 21-29, figs. 3, 5, II.
Verdier, P. "Woman in the Marginalia of Gothic Manuscripts and Related Works." In The Role of Women in the Middle Ages, edited by R. T. Morewedge. Albany, NY, 1975; pp. 139, 157 (n. 109), fig. 23.
Gómez, Isabel Matteo. Temas profanos en la escultura gótica española: Las sillerías de coro. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1979; pp. 54-57 Pl. V, fig. 27.
Sed-Rajna, G. A Màjmúni Kódex..." A Budapesti 'Misné Tóra' legszebb lapjai. Budapest, 1980; pp. 26, 32 (n. 24), fig. 12.
Calkins, R. "Drollery," Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York, 1982; pp. 293b, illustration, 294a.
Das Graduale von Sankt Katharinenthal: Kommentar, edited by Schweizerisches Landesmuseum. Luzern, 1983; p. 194, figs. 42-43.
Fitzgerald, W. "Ocelli Nominum: Names and Shelf Marks of Famous/Familiar Manuscripts (I)." Medieval Studies 45 (1983): 214-297; p. 274.
Randall, Lilian M.C. Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature, Highlights from the Collection of the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1984; Pl. 16.
Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 1. France, 875-1420. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1989; pp. 107-111, cat. no. 45.
Lewis, Suzanne. Beyond the Frame: Marginal Figures and Historiated Initials in the Getty Apocalypse. The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 20 (1992): 53-76; p. 75-76 (n. 16 for p. 63).
Friedman, John B. The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000; pp. 137-138 (fig. 39).
Düriegl, Ursula. Die Fabelwesen von St. Jakob in Kastelaz bei Tramin.: Romanische Bilderwelt antiken und vorantiken Ursprungs. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2003; p. 77, fig. 40.
Büttner, F.O. "Form and History: Der illuminierte Psalter im Westen." In The Illuminated Psalter. Edited by F.O. Büttner, 1-106. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004; p. 65 (n. 104), 95 (n. 56).
Mellinkoff, Ruth. Averting Demons: The Protective Power of Medieval Visual Motifs and Themes. 2 vols. Los Angeles: Ruth Mellinkoff Publications, 2004; vol. 1, p. 20, 128-129, vol. 2, p. 220-221 (figs. VI.II-VI.IIA).
Gardill, Ingrid. Sancta Benedicta: Missionarin, Märtyrerin, Patronin ; der Prachtcodex aus dem Frauenkloster Sainte-Benoîte in Origny. Petersberg, Hesse: Michael Imhof Verlag Publications, 2005; p. 155.
Hunt, Elizabeth Moore. Illuminating the Border of French and Flemish Manuscripts, 1270–1310. London: Routledge, 2006; 198.
Bräm, Andreas. "'Fratrum minorum mater': Heiligenbilder als Angleichung und zum Patronat in Frankreich und Flandern und in der Anjou-Hofkunst Neapels." In Elisabeth von Thüringen: eine europäische Heilige, vol. 2. Edited by Uwe John and Dieter Blume, 309-324. Hesse: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2007; pp. 314 (Abb. 6), 323 (n. 36 for p. 313).
Sattler, Veronika. "Nacktheit am Rande. Die Darstellung von Nacktheit in der gotischen Marginalillustration." In "Und sie erkannten, dass sie nackt waren.": Nacktheit im Mittelalter: Ergebnisse einer interdisziplinären Tagung des Zentrums für Mittelalterstudien der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 3.& 4. November 2006. Edited by Stefan Biessenecker, 185-210. Bamberg: Bamberg University Press, 2008; pp. 188, 189.
Wirth, Jean, and Isabelle Engammare. Les marges à drôleries des manuscrits gothiques, 1250-1350. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2008; pp. 64, 229, 232, 257, 291-292, 331-333, 352.
Bagliani, Agostino. Il papato nel secolo XIII: cent'anni di bibliografia. Florence: Sismel, 2010; p. 3332.
Dillon, Emma. The Sense of Sound: Musical Meaning in France, 1260-1330. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012; pp. 182, 192, 236-237.
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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