Walters Ms. W.3, Gospel Book

W.3

Gospel Book

Gospels

Authority name: Eusebius, of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea, approximately 260-approximately 340

Authority name: Hieronymus, Saint, -419 or 420

Known as: Jerome

Known as: Hieronimi

This Gospel Book from the late tenth century has been attributed to the Benedictine Abbey of Fleury in the commune of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, France. Carolingian influence is visible in both the text and decoration of this manuscript. Notable artistic parallels exist between this manuscript and an early eleventh-century Reichenau Gospel book (Munich, Clm 4454). These parallels have been attributed to artistic cross-influences between Fleury and Reichenau, and may reflect shared dependence on a common earlier tradition. This Gospel Book contains twelve richly illuminated canon tables decorated with signs of the zodiac as well as human, zoomorphic, and vegetal forms. The canons are composed of arches surmounted by a lunette. Each Gospel begins with an elaborate initial decorated with beast interlace, as well as sprouting acanthus leaves. The pages facing the beginning of each Gospel were originally left blank, possibly indicating an original plan to include Evangelist portraits, which were common in this period. A small, off-center pen-drawn Evangelist portrait was added at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel sometime soon after the book's creation. The book was originally composed of nineteen perfect quires of eight, which reflects sophisticated planning for the physical composition of the book. It has been suggested that the narrow, elongated proportions of the book suggest its use as a liturgical text (Cahn, 1981), and indicate it was designed to accommodate an ivory diptych (type) on the front cover (Nordenfalk, 1973).

Late 10th century CE

Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, France

Book

Liturgical

Scriptural

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Medium- to heavy-weight parchment, last quire has more original flaws; flyleaves are antique paper, early nineteenth-century, with first and last marbelized with matching pastedowns; front flyleaf ii has watermark "DB"; front flyleaf iii has watermark of crown over cross and "IHS" over "G;" back flyleaf i, watermark with cluster of thirty-one grapes

Foliation: iv+148+ii

Originally manuscript contained 152 folios, however two bifolia missing between fols. 90 and 91; modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos

Formula: Quires 1-11: 8 (fols. 1-88); Quire 12: 8, with 3rd-6th folios now missing (fols. 89-92); Quires 13-19: 8 (93-148)

Catchwords: End of quires, bottom center, versos, added in fourteenth or fifteenth century in light brown ink

Signatures: Lowercase letters a-s, end of quires, bottom center, versos, added in fourteenth or fifteenth century in light brown ink

Comments:

18.0 cm wide by 31.3 cm high

9.5 cm wide by 21.8 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 30
3. Layout does not apply to canon tables

fols. 1r - 148v:

1. Title: Gospels
2. Hand note: Caroline minuscule; some rustic capitals and uncial for titles and rubrics; several scribes, hand change visible on fol. 49r
3. Decoration note: Twelve canon tables, decorated with zodiac, animals, people, and fable(?) imagery; four large initials with animal interlace opening four Gospels; pen drawing of Evangelist Matthew added early; rubrics and initials in red; text in brown ink

fols. 1r - 9v:

1. Title: List of Pericopes
2. Rubric: Capitula lectionum evangelii anni circuli ad missas
3. Incipit: In vigilia nativitatis
4. Contents: Pericopes for the liturgical year
5. Text note: First folio severely damaged and repaired; text was transcribed onto front flyleaf iv

fols. 10r - 11v:

1. Title: Prologues by Eusebius and Jerome
2. Authors: Eusebius, of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea, approximately 260-approximately 340; Hieronymus, Saint, -419 or 420
3. Rubric: Incipit prologus Eusebii
4. Incipit: Eusebius carpiano patri (Eusebius) Beatissima papae damaso (Jerome)
5. Contents: Fols. 10r-v: Eusebius to Carpianus; fols. 10v-11v: Jerome letter to Pope Damasus

fols. 12r - 17v:

1. Title: Eusebian canon tables
2. Author: Eusebius, of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea, approximately 260-approximately 340
3. Contents: Canons are of shorter Vulgate set; numbers grouped in sets of six
4. Decoration note: Canons over twelve pages, with zodiac sign for each

fols. 18r - 147v:

1. Title: Gospels
2. Rubric: Incipit Brevis Evangelii secundum Matheum
3. Incipit: De generatione christi
4. Contents: Fols. 18r-19r: 74 chapter list for Matthew; fols. 20r-53r: Gospel of Matthew; fols. 53v-54r: Prologue to Mark; fols. 54r-55r: 13 chapter list for Mark; fols. 56r-80v: Gospel of Mark; fols. 80v-81r: Prologue to Luke; fols. 81r-85r: 20 chapter list for Luke; fol. 86r-120v: Gospel of Luke, with Luke 3.8-6.33 missing due to removed bifolia between fols. 90 and 91; fols. 120v-121r: Prologue to John; fol. 121r-v: 14 chapter list for John; fols. 123r-147v: Gospel of John
5. Decoration note: Pen drawing of Evangelist Matthew, fol. 19v; full-page decorated initials fols. 20r, 56r, 86r, and 123r

fol. 12r:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, with sign of the zodiac: Aries
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 1

fol. 12v:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, lions with sign of the zodiac: Taurus
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 1

fol. 13r:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, hares with sign of the zodiac: Gemini
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 2

fol. 13v:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, wolf eating bird with sign of the zodiac: Cancer
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 2
5. Comment:

   Large bird in wolf's maw may refer to Aesop's Fable of stork extracting bone.

fol. 14r:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, with sign of the zodiac: Leo
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 2

fol. 14v:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, beasts with sign of the zodiac: Virgo
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canons 3 and 4

fol. 15r:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, nude men with sign of the zodiac: Libra
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 4
5. Comment:

   Two nude men holding orbs

fol. 15v:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, men with sign of the zodiac: Scorpio
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 5
5. Comment:

   Two men in contorted postures

fol. 16r:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, birds with sign of the zodiac: Sagittarius
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canons 6 and 7

fol. 16v:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, beasts with sign of the zodiac: Capricorn
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canons 8, 9, and 10

fol. 17r:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, birds with sign of the zodiac: Aquarius
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 10

fol. 17v:

1. 
2. Title: Canon table, with sign of the zodiac: Pisces
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Eusebian canon 10

fol. 19v:

1. 
2. Title: Portrait of the Evangelist Matthew(?)
3. Form: Pen drawing
4. Comment:

   Evangelist portrait added at early date

fol. 20r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "L"
3. Form: Full-page decorated initial "L"
4. Text: Opening of Gospel of Matthew

fol. 56r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "I"
3. Form: Decorated initial "I," 14 lines
4. Text: Opening of Gospel of Mark

fol. 86r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "Q"
3. Form: Decorated initial "Q," 29 lines
4. Text: Opening of Gospel of Luke

fol. 123r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "I"
3. Form: Decorated initial "I," 30+ lines
4. Text: Opening of Gospel of John

The binding is not original.

Rebound in France, early nineteenth century, red-brown goatskin with gilt designs on cover and spine; silver corner guards; spine labeled "EVANGELIUM IHESU CHRISTI EX DONO CAROLI MAGNI"; originally in matching telescoping book box, replaced in late twentieth century with new box for conservation reasons

Created at the Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, late tenth century

Léon Gruel, Paris, late nineteenth or early twentieth century; Gruel and Engelmann bookplate, inscribed "No. 95," number also written in pencil on fol. 148v

Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Léon Gruel, 1903

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

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. 60.

Baltimore, Maryland: The Walters Museum of Art. 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, fol. 20; p. 4, no. 7, Pl. 4.

Swarzenski, H. "The Anhalt Morgan Gospels." 31. Art Bulletin. 1949, p. 79, n. 25.

Diringer, David. The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production. London: Faber & Faber. 1958, p. 166, fig. III-22a.

Miner, Dorothy E. "The Development of Medieval Illumination." Vol. I. Catholic Life Annual. 1958, p. 11, fig. 3.

Faye, C. U. and W. H. Bond. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York. 1962, p. 195, no. 60.

Walters Art Gallery. 2,000 Years of Calligraphy. Totowa: Rowman & Littlefield. 1965, fol. 123; no. 14, fig. 14.

Berkowitz, David S. In Remembrance of Creation: Evolution of Art and Scholarship in the Medieval and Renaissance Bible. Waltham: Brandeis University Press. 1968, no. 61.

Nordenfalk, C. "A Tenth Century Gospel Book in the Walters Art Gallery." Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy E. Miner. Ed. Ursula E. McCracken, Lilian M. C. Randall, and Richard H. Randall, Jr. Baltimore: The Walters Art Gallery. 1973, fols. 12-17v, 19v-20, 56, 86, 123, 48v, cover image; pp. 139-170.

Mutherich, F. Ausstattung und Sckmuck der Handschrift. Das Evangelia Ottos III: CLM 4453 Der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek Munchen. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer. 1978, pp. 70, 124.

Nordenfalk, Carl. "Review of F. Wormald and J. J. G. Alexander's ' An Early Breton Gospel Book from the Collection of H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence 1887-1965.'" 120/901. Burlington Magazine. 1978, p. 244.

Cahn, Walter. "Three Eleventh-Century Mss. From Nevers." Etudes d'Art medievale offerts a Louis Grodecki. Paris: Ophrys. 1981, p. 71, no. 51.

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. I, France 875-1420. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1989, pp. 7-9, no. 2, ills. 5, 6, Pl.I.

Burin, Elizabeth. "The Illuminated Initial: October 8, 1991 to January 5, 1992". 44 no.8. The Walters Art Gallery Bulletin. 10/1991:5, fol. 20; p. 5.

Bennett, Adelaide, Wlater Cahn, Bert Cardon, and Karen de Coene. Medieval Mastery: Book Illumination from Charlemagne to Charles the Bold, 800-1475. Turnhout: Brepols, 2002, p. 99, 100; fig. 7.

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Catalogers: Herbert, Lynley; Mackin, Elliot

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Conservator: Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Herbold, Rebekah; Tabritha, Ariel; Wiegand, Kimber

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.