Leaf from the Morgan Picture Bible - Google Art Project

The Morgan Bible (mostly

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th S ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Ms M. 638), also called the Morgan Picture Bible, Crusader Bible, Shah Abbas Bible or Maciejowski Bible, is a unique medieval

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

. It is a

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

Bible consisting of 46 surviving

folios The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

. The book consists of miniature paintings of events from the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

perspective. It is not a complete Bible, as it consists largely of illustrations of stories of kings, especially

King David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

. The illustrations are now surrounded by text in three scripts and five languages:

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, Persian,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Judeo-Persian Judeo-Persian refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judeo-Persian texts (written in Hebrew alphabet). As a collective term, Judeo-Persian refers to a number of Judeo-Iranian languages spoken by Jewish com ...

, and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. The level of detail in the images and the remarkable state of preservation of the work make it particularly valuable to scholars. Forty-three folios are in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, with two folios in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

(MS nouv. acq. lat. 2294). A single folio is now in the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

, Los Angeles (MS 16).Morgan Library, "About the Book"
/ref> Two folios are thought to be missing from the original work.

Description

The Morgan Bible is part of

(Ms M. 638). It is a medieval

picture An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimension ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

. Although the Morgan Bible originally contained 48

, of these, 43 still reside in the Morgan Museum, two are in the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, one is in the

, Los Angeles, and two have been lost. The cover that once bound the manuscript has been lost over time. The surviving leaves measure at 32.5 × 29.1 cm (12 13/16 × 11 7/16 in.) In full, the manuscript contained over 380 scenes. It was the work of at least six different artists. The book consists of paintings of events from

Hebrew scripture The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

. The Morgan bible is not a complete bible. It includes portions of "Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel" with a particular emphasis on early Israelite heroes who are presented as models of kingship to learn from. Originally, the bible contained only miniatures, organized in a consistent visual rhythm from page to page. Within 100 years, the book acquired

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

inscriptions in

describing the scenes illustrated.

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

Bernard Maciejowski Cardinal Bernard Maciejowski, Ciołek coat of arms (1548 – 19 January 1608 in Kraków), Polish nobleman, starosta, royal standard bearer, statesman and Catholic Church leader; Lutsk bishop, Archbishop of Kraków, Archbishop of Gniezno and Prim ...

Bishop of Kraków A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

, had the book given as a gift to

Abbas I of Persia Abbas I ( fa, ; 27 January 157119 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the 5th Safavid Shah (king) of Iran, and is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavid dynasty. He was the third s ...

in 1608.Morgan Library, "Provenance"
/ref> Abbas ordered inscriptions in Persian to be added, mostly translating the Latin ones already there. Later, in the eighteenth century, inscriptions were added in

. The Latin text allowed art historians to identify the subjects of the miniatures. The manuscript is of particular interest to scholars because of the quality and preservation of the illuminations. The level of detail included, from architecture to

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...

s to haircuts, provides historians with valuable clues as to what life was like at the time, while the stylistic changes and subtle variations in the story-lines give some insight into one of the most powerful men in Europe.

Provenance

The book has traditionally been thought to have been created in Paris in the mid-1240s for

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

. A suggestion by Allison Stones, expanding on conclusions by others such as François Avril, that it was instead illuminated in northern France around 1250 has not won general acceptance. The modern imagery may have been a political statement because the Franks, especially during the reign of Louis IX, saw themselves as the legitimate heirs of Rome. Under Louis IX, France took a militant position against the enemies of Christendom, taking an active part in the Seventh and Eighth

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. The creation of the Morgan Bible falls around the time Louis IX went on his first crusade and the style of using modem clothes on biblical figures appears in other works he commissioned around this time such as the

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. ...

chapel whose stained glass is in the same style, suggesting they may have been used to legitimize his position at home and among the other crusaders. After the death of Louis IX, ownership passed to his brother,

Charles of Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...

who defeated Naples in 1266 and founded the Angevin Dynasty. While the book was in Italy, Latin text was added. Ownership up to this point has been based mostly on guesswork and circumstantial evidence. The first recorded owner of the bible was Cardinal

who was the Bishop of Cracow,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Maciejowski studied for the priesthood in Italy and likely gained ownership of the manuscript while there. In 1604, Cardinal Maciejowski gifted the bible to

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

Abbas through a delegation, as is evidenced by the inscription of folio 1 that reads in

(translated by Daniel Weiss): “Bernard Maciejowski, Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church, Bishop of Cracow, Duke of

Siewierz Siewierz is a town in southern Poland, in the Będzin County in the Silesian Voivodeship, seat of Gmina Siewierz. History Siewierz was first mentioned in 1125, and was administered by the Castellan of Bytom. In 1177, Casimir II of Poland grant ...

, and Senator of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

with sincere wishes offers this gift to the supreme King of the Persians at Cracow the mother city of the kingdom of Poland on the seventh of September 1604.” It officially reached the Shah back in

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...

in 1608. The Shah seemed to enjoy the gift and after having missionaries explain the pictures, he had Persian inscriptions added and added his own seal of ownership on folio 42v.

Lost Leaves

It appears that at some point during the manuscript's travels, several pages were deliberately removed from it. It has been suggested that Shah Abbas tore out these pages, all involving

Absalom Absalom ( he, ''ʾAḇšālōm'', "father of peace") was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. 2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the handsomest man in the kingdom. Absalom eventually rebelle ...

's rebellion, because he thought they might be a bad influence on his young son; however, others suggest that he may have removed them in 1615, as they may have provided a painful reminder of how he executed his son that year for treason. When the Afghans conquered Isfahan in 1722, the royal library was sacked along with the rest of the city. Little is known of the manuscript's whereabouts in the succeeding years, except that a Persian Jew added

inscriptions to the manuscript, and even commented on and corrected the previous scripts. The manuscript was not heard of again until 1833, when it was auctioned off by

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

, whose records indicate that they purchased it in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

. It was sold to London dealers Payne and Foss, who subsequently sold it to manuscript collector

Sir Thomas Phillipps Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He was an illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer ...

, who owned around 60,000 manuscripts before he died. When Phillipps died, his collection went to his daughter, and then to his grandson, who eventually began selling it off in order to pay off debts. Sotheby's once again took charge of auctioning the book, eventually selling it to

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

in 1910 for £10,000.

Notes

References

* Hourihane, Colum (ed.), Between the Picture and the Word, Princeton Index of Christian Art, Princeton, 2005 * Cockerell, Sydney C. and John Plummer (1969), Old Testament miniatures: a medieval picture book with 283 paintings from Creation to the story of David (New York: G. Braziller) ontains reproductions of all paintings in the Morgan Bible.* Noel, William and Daniel Weiss, eds. (2002), The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum). atalog of recent exhibition* Jafari Mazhab, Mohsen: "Ketab Moqaddse San Looyi dar Esfahan aint Louis`s Bible in Isfahan in ''Ketab Mah Tarikh va Joghrafia'', no 13, Tehran: nov. 1998

n Persian N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

External links

{{Commons category, Maciejowski Bible
A Masterpiece of Sensuous Communication: The Morgan Bible of Louis IX

Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibition
1240s books 13th-century illuminated manuscripts Illuminated biblical manuscripts Collection of the Morgan Library & Museum category:Illuminated manuscripts of the J. Paul Getty Museum Louis IX of France