Illuminated Manuscripts for Sale

St Augustine

St. Augustine's Psalm Commentary - in original binding

Gottschalk, Upper Austria, Lambach Abbey, second half of the 12th century

This manuscript was created at Lambach Abbey, an abbey in Upper Austrai that was becoming a regional centre for advanced theological studies in the second half of the 12th century. The exquisite penwork points to a scribe and illuminator identified as Gottschalk. The manuscript is in its original binding.

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Illuminated manuscript on vellum.

333 x 225 mm. – 279 leaves. With 46 large foliate initials in orange-red and purple penwork, 18 of them inhabited with birds, and 3 including figures, in addition 2 standing figures in the same technique.

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A superb manuscript from Austria's Lambach Abbey

Overview

St Augustine's commentary on Psalms 51-100, known from the time of Erasmus as Enarrationes in Psalmos. The commentary on the Psalms, composed over a long period, was both the most extensive and most influential of Augustine's exegetical works; it came to be regarded as an essential component of a monastic library. Because it was so vast it was usual for it to be copied, as at Lambach, in several volumes.

One figure dominates manuscript production at Lambach during the second half of the 12th century: the scribe and artist identified as Gottschalk. The delightful orange and purple penwork initials of this volume of Augustine are characteristic and extremely fine examples of the work of this artist. The features that have been isolated as distinguishing his style from that of his followers are all found here - stem bands with rows of circles, the ring-like buds or berries, halos outlined with circles, red dots on cheeks.

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