12th-century painters - The Tree of Jesse - WGA15728

The Lambeth Bible is a 12th-century illuminated manuscript (perhaps produced circa 1150–1170), among the finest surviving giant

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

s from Romanesque England. It exists in two volumes; the first is in Lambeth Palace Library (MS 3) and covers

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...

on 328 leaves of

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

measuring circa 520 x 355 mm; the second incomplete volume (covering Psalms to Revelation) is in the

Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery Maidstone Museum is a local authority-run museum located in Maidstone, Kent, England, featuring internationally important collections including fine art, natural history, and human history. The museum is one of three operated by Maidstone Bor ...

(MS P.5). The style of the illumination is clearly influenced by the work of

Master Hugo Master Hugo (fl. c.1130-c.1150) was a Romanesque lay artist and the earliest recorded professional artist in England. His documented career at Bury St Edmunds Abbey spans from before 1136 to after 1148. He is most famous for illuminating the f ...

, the illuminator of the

Bury Bible The Bury Bible is a giant illustrated Bible written at Bury Saint Edmunds in Suffolk, England between 1121 and 1148, and illuminated by an artist known as Master Hugo. Since 1575 it has been in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, ...

. The Lambeth Bible bears close stylistic resemblance to the Gospel Book made for Abbot Wedric of

Liessies Abbey Liessies Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in the village of Liessies, near Avesnes-sur-Helpe, in the Archdiocese of Cambrai and the ''département'' of Nord, France. First foundation It was founded in 751 and dedicated to Saint Lambert. It s ...

(Hainault) in 1146, of which only two leaves survive (the rest having been destroyed at Metz in World War II), now in

Avesnes-sur-Helpe Avesnes-sur-Helpe (; vls, Avenne aan de Helpe) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Nord department. It is situated 14 km from the Belgian border, and 18 km south of Maubeuge, the near ...

. Eric Millar proposed a Canterbury provenance, which C. R. Dodwell supported in his study of the Canterbury scriptorium of 1954. More recently, Josef Reidmaier argued that the manuscript was produced in the Christ Church scriptorium around 1150. Dorothy Shepard argues that the book was produced in the scriptorium of St Augustine's Abbey between 1150-70. However, none of the divisions of the two-volume Bibles included in the inventory of the St Augustine’s library correspond to that of the Lambeth Bible. Christopher de Hamel instead links the Bible to

Faversham Abbey Faversham Abbey was a Cluniac style monastery immediately to the north-east of the town of Faversham, in north Kent, England. History It was founded by King Stephen and his wife Matilda of Boulogne in 1148. A party of monks from Bermondsey ...

, and claims that it was being produced for King Stephen. He supports his claim by drawing attention to the frequent royal imagery in the Bible, and the short period between 1146 (when the illuminator was in France) and 1154 (King Stephen's death) as an explanation for the Bible's incomplete state. For many years the first volume in the Lambeth Palace Library was paired with another volume (MS. 4) in the library, but in 1924 it was realised that the correct pairing was with the Maidstone volume.

References

*Dorothy Shepard: ''Introducing the Lambeth Bible: a Study of Text and Imagery''. 2007 *Richard Palmer, Michelle P. Brown (eds): ''Lambeth Palace Library: Treasures from the Collections of the Archbishops of Canterbury''. 2010. {{ISBN, 1-85759-627-7 * Christopher de Hamel: Lecture at Lambeth Palace, 19 June 2010. Illuminated biblical manuscripts 12th-century biblical manuscripts 12th-century illuminated manuscripts

See also

References