The 'Golden Biblia Pauperum' (Pauper's Bible)
(British Museum, Kings Ms 5)
"What is important about this manuscript is not merely that it differs in appearance from all earlier copies of the Biblia Pauperum. The real achievement of its artist and designer is to have altered thee very way the very way that manuscript conveys meaning. That is to say, how it structures its user's understanding and experience of its contents. Thee painter of the 'Golden Blblia Pauperum articulates its parts and focuses and elaborates its visual interest in new ways, and in so doing he changes the protocols of reading and comprehending this kind of book. He draws thee user in new ways into the function of the manuscript, into its expression, and into a new appreciation of the inner workings and implications of the relationships between the New and Old Testaments. ... Few other medieval works of art reveal so fully how basic artistic properties -- elements of pictorial structure, form, and colour -- could be marshaled to re-order thoughts and experiences related to some of the most deeply held beliefs of the time. Even more than its iconography or artistic style, it is the underlying principles of design and the corollary aesthetic patterns of this book that enable it to stimulate intuited and lived experiences as well as conventionally conceptualized ones."
The Shape of Meaning: Word and Image in a 15th-Century Book, Jams H. Marrow. Pg 45, in Moos, David (ed) 'Painting in the Age of Artificial Intelligence' Art&Design No. 48 1996.
The "Golden Bible" is a most unusual medieval Bible manuscript, a princely, illustrated commentary to the Holy Scriptures. It was made during the first years of the 15th century, at a time when Count Albert's of Bavaria-Holland (13891404) and his second wife Margaret of Cleves' court at The Hague developed into a new independent centre of the arts. The illuminator and author of this magnificent work was probably the same master who decorated Margaret's Book of Hours which shows obvious similarities in style. Given the high quality of the miniatures and the lavish decoration, it is assumed that the manuscript was destined for a prince. Originally the manuscript had a different format: Its present oblong pages were initially folded twice so that the manuscript looked like a normal codex; the reader had to open the book and unfold the page to view the pictures as they are seen today.
The main purpose of a so-called Biblia Pauperum was to make connections between the Old and the New Testament visible in picture and text, in order to convince the faithful and to contradict the heretical ideas of the Cathari and many other heretical movements present at the end of the Middle Ages. The plainer versions may have been used as memory aids whilst giving sermons, draped over the pulpit to assist illiterate worshippers to associate the sermon's example with conventional iconography, or to engage the individual user in contemplation of the concordance of ancient and Christ's times.
- Richly painted and multicoloured script compared to other BPs which were generally either woodcuts or black/brown ink script with pen and wash illustrations
- The design of the entire book, ie the progression of the images, simulates the history of the mystery of redemption (christ's life and death)
- The page design means that reader first sees one prefiguring OT scene and then must unfold page to reveal entire ensemble.
- OT scenes have burnished gold backgrounds -- sense of timelessness
- NT scenes have gridded gold and black background -- figures meshed into the picture plane.
- Each OT scene has brief written commentary in gold, red and blue (arranged in units of 3 lines each of each colour) , whilst the subtitles on NT scenes are painted in blue and gold in alternating 2 line units.
- NT scene surrounded by portraits of 4 prophets and sayings that relate to the spread.
Central panel : NT Disciple Judas receives 30 pieces of gold for betraying Jesus to the Romans.
Right panel : OT Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites by his jealous brothers.
Left panel : OT Joseph sold to Potiphar by the Ishmaelites.
Central panel : NT Jesus carrying the cross to his crucifixion .Veronica in the background.
Right panel : OT
Left panel : OT
Central panel : NT The Last Supper
Right panel : OT Abraham and Melchisedek.
Left panel : OT The fall of manna from the sky: Moses gives manna to the Israelites
Central panel : NT Jesus expelling the money-lenders and merchants from the temple
Right panel : OT
Left panel : OT
Earlier Examples
