Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Single leaf from the Winchester Bible.

Accession number
MS M.619
Object title
Single leaf from the Winchester Bible.
Display Date
between 1160 and 1180.
Created
Winchester, England, between 1160 and 1180.
Credit line
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1912.
Description
1 single leaf ; 580 x 390 mm
Provenance
Winchester Cathedral; perhaps removed during rebinding; offered for sale for £100 to William Morris by Leo S. Olschki; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) from Olschki in 1912; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).
Notes
Ms. Bible single leaf (from the Winchester Bible); the Bible was illuminated at St. Swithin's Priory, Winchester, England, between 1160 and 1180.
Text: chapter headings from I Samuel XVI to XXVI.
Decoration: 3-register miniatures on recto and verso with a sequence of 17 scenes from the lives of Samuel, Saul, and David.
Artist: the underdrawings are by the Master of the Apocrypha Drawings; painted by the Master of the Morgan Leaf.
Previous scholars have believed that this leaf - the only fully painted miniature from the Winchester Bible known to be preserved - was never inserted in the manuscript. Claire Donovan (The Winchester Bible, 1993) argues that the strong discoloration on the verso of M.619 and on the recto of folio 88 of the Winchester Bible demonstrates that M.619 was indeed inserted and the Bible itself was on display for centuries at this opening, accumulating dust and other pollutants.
Matted.
Script
book minuscule
Language
Latin
Century
Classification