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.

Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality

November 10, 2023 through March 10, 2024

Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality charts the economic revolution that took place at the end of the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. Trade was conducted on an unprecedented scale, banks were established, and coinage proliferated like never before. The widespread use of money in everyday life transformed every aspect of European society, including its values and culture.

Bringing together some of the most acclaimed manuscripts in the Morgan's collection and other exceptional objects including a renaissance purse, a brass alms box, and a hoard of coins, this exhibition will explore the fate of the avaricious, attitudes towards the poor, contentious lending practices, and money management.

The famous Hours of Catherine of Cleves, the Hours of Henry VIII, and the Prayer Book of Queen Claude de France will be presented from a decidedly new angle, combining economic and art history to consider the early history of capitalism and the crisis in values that it sparked. These will feature alongside lesser known treasures, including an Italian account book in its original binding and a stunning leaf from a register of creditors made in Bologna, Italy, in 1394–95. As people today reflect on fluctuating markets, disparities in wealth, personal values, and morality, the themes addressed in this exhibition are as relevant as ever.

The exhibition is curated by Diane Wolfthal, David and Caroline Minter Chair Emerita in the Humanities and Professor Emerita of Art History, Rice University, with Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality is made possible by the Lucy Ricciardi Family Exhibition Fund, an anonymous donor, and the Andrew W. Mellon Fund for Research and Publications, with support from the Charles E. Pierce, Jr. Fund for Exhibitions, the Achelis & Bodman Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the David L. Klein Jr. Foundation, Marguerite Steed Hoffman, Virginia Schirrmeister and Anne Goldrach, and the Themis Anastasia Brown Fund. Assistance is provided by Elizabeth A. R. and Ralph S. Brown, Jr., Caroline Sharfman Bacon, Gregory T. Clark, and an anonymous donor.

Leaf of a Register of Creditors of a Bolognese Lending Society, Italy, Bologna, ca. 1390–1400. Single leaf. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.1056, fol. 1v detail.

Publication

Selected Images

Goldbeater
Frontispiece from a register of creditors of a Bolognese lending society
Illuminated by Nicolò di Giacomo di Nascimbene, called Nicolò da Bologna Italy, Bologna, ca. 1394–95
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.1056, fol. 1v detail.

Hieronymus Bosch
Death and the Miser, ca. 1485–90
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel Kress Collection, 1952.5.33

Coins from the Chalkis hoard
Greece, Chalkis, Greece, late fourteenth century
Courtesy of American Numismatic Society, New York, 1985.58 / Gift of Jonathan P. Rosen. Photography Alan Roche

David and an Avaricious Man, in an initial D from a breviary, France, Paris, 1285–97.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.1042, fol. 29v (det.).

Visitation and Shower of Coins
Book of Hours
Illuminated by the Master of Sir George Talbot
Belgium, Bruges, ca. 1500
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.390, fols. 44v–45r.

Avarice
Book of Hours
Illuminated by Robinet Testard
France, Poitiers, ca. 1475
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.1001, fol. 91r.

Covetousness, from Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le roman de la rose (The Romance of the Rose), France, Paris, ca. 1350.
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.324, fol. 2v detail.

Deathbed and Souls Tormented in Purgatory
“The Hours of Catherine of Cleves” Illuminated by the Master of Catherine of Cleves
The Netherlands, Utrecht, ca. 1440
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS M.917/945, p. 180–fol. 97r. Purchased on the Belle da Costa Greene Fund and through the generosity of the Fellows, 1963 and 1970.

Gamblers and Criminals
Hugo von Trimberg
Der Renner (The Runner)
Austria, Tyrol, ca. 1476–99 T
he Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.763, fol. 131v.

Hans Holbein the Younger
Der Rychman (The Rich Man), from Dance of Death
Woodcut executed by Hans Lützelburger
Germany, designed 1523–26, published 1538
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection, 1948.11.128.

The Hungarian Master and workshop, Judas Attempts to Return the Silver and Judas Hanged, from the “Hungarian Anjou Legendary”
Italy, Bologna (or Hungary), ca. 1325–35.
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.360.8 detail.

Master of St. Augustine (?), St. Francis renouncing His Worldly Goods, oil on panel,
Belgium, Antwerp (?), ca. 1500.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, 2003, 2003-89-1.

Fra Angelico, St. Anthony Shunning the Mass of Gold, tempera on panel, Italy, Florence, ca. 1435–40.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 44.550 / The Edith A. and Percy S. Straus Collection / Bridgeman Images

St. Anthony in the Desert and St. Louis Giving Alms, from the Prayer Book of Queen Claude de France.
Illuminated by the Master of Claude de France.
France, Tours, ca. 1517.
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.1166, fols. 36v and 37r. Photography by Schecter Lee.

Gerard of Villamagna Soliciting Alms for the Poor, from Vita Christi (Life of Christ)
Illuminated by Pacino di Bonaguida and workshop
Italy, Florence, ca. 1300–25
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.643, fol. 18v.

Andrea di Bartolo, Joachim and Anna Giving Food to the Poor and Offerings to the Temple.
Oil on poplar, Italy, Siena, ca. 1400–1405.
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.43.

Workshop of Jean Pichore, Man Preparing for His Old Age, from a book of hours, France, Paris, 1510–20.
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.813, fol. 13r.

Albrecht Dürer, The Prodigal Son amid Swine, engraving, Germany, Nuremberg, ca. 1496.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 19.73.35.
The Metropolitan Museum of New York, Fletcher Fund, 1919.

Sorgheloos in Poverty
Colorless glass, vitreous paint, and silver stain
Netherlands, 1510–20
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection, New York, 1999.243. ©
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY

Jan Gossart, Portrait of a Merchant, oil on oak, Netherlandish, ca. 1530.
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1967.4.1.

Hans Memling, Portrait of a Man with a Pink
Oil on panel
Netherlandish, ca. 1475.
The Morgan Library & Museum, AZ073.

Merchant and King
Jacobus de Cessolis
Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum (Book of the Customs of Men and the Duties of Nobles, or The Book of Chess), in French
Translated by Jean de Vignay France, probably Paris, 1350–60
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS G.52, fol. 33v detail. Gift of the Trustees of the William S. Glazier Collection, 1984.

Boxed balance with weights
Germany, Cologne, 1699
Produced by Berndt Odental (weights) and Jacob Heuscher (balance).
Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society, New York, 1930.179.1-24. Photography by Alan Roche.

Master of Catherine of Cleves, St. Gregory the Great and Coins,
Hours of Catherine of Cleves,
The Netherlands, Utrecht, ca. 1440.
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.917/945, p 240.

Eight of Coins, King of Coins, and Ten of Coins
Playing Cards
Illuminated by Bonifacio Bembo
Italy, Milan, ca. 1450–80
The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.630, nos. 20, 32, 33.

The Prodigal Receives His Share
Germany, 1532
Colorless glass, vitreous paint, and silver stain
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941, 41.190.442.

Strongbox
Steel, Germany, possibly Nuremberg, late sixteenth or early seventeenth century
35 3/4 × 51 in., 768 lb.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1890, 90.13.1/ Gift of Henry G. Marquand

Gallery Images