Peter Lombard's Magnificent Psalms Commentary with Gold Margins

Workshop of the Vie de Saint Denis, France, Paris, c. 1230-50

Peter Lombard's Gloss in a magnificent copy with exceptional margins. Approximately 335 large illuminated initials, 51 pages with full illuminated framed borders (added later, Spain c. 1460), and 9 large historiated initials.

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Illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum. Approximately 335 large illuminated initials in highly burnished gold on blue and pink-brown grounds with white tracery, fifty-one pages with full illuminated frame borders added later. 9 large historiated initials in full colours and highly burnished gold. Massive medieval binding in white tawed leather over slightly bevelled wooden boards sewn on 7 double thongs, covers triple-ruled to a frame and saltire pattern, blind-stamped in each lozenge with a fleur-de-lys in a rectangle surrounded by a ring of tiny circular stamps of stars or 6-petalled flower heads. Medieval vellum title label psalteriu[m] glosatu[m] in gothic script attached towards top of lower cover with 8 metal pins, 2 clasp straps secured by metal fittings (not matching) on edge of upper cover reaching to corresponding metal pins on lower cover.

442 x 315 mm, 213 leaves

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An impressive codex in folio format

Overview

A highly-valued source of exegesis and knowledge for theologians, this well-preserved copy of the Psalter commentaries by Peter Lombard is a deluxe copy. Illuminated in the workshop of the Vie de Saint Denis, the artist has a distinctive touch with pale, almost white, flesh tones and delicate facial features. This is one of the most prolific workshops in Paris from 1230 to 1250, marking the period between the early Bible Moralisée and mid-century styles.

It is possible that the full burnished gold borders were Spanish editions, as the book evidently came to Spain to lay in the noble library of the marquises of Astorga, where it received its present binding.

Peter Lombard (c. 1095-1160) was probably the first truly magisterial teacher of the emerging schools of Paris, which had become the greatest of all medieval universities by the early 13th century. The present manuscript, a comprehensive gloss of the Psalms, presents the Biblical text in short sections clinging to the left of a column, while the catena commentary runs continuously beside and around them. The penwork of the fleuronné initials develops in long extensions and tendrils, mostly in string/chord-like parallel lines ending in spirals typical of the period between 1230 and 1250.

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