Leaf from a Book of Hours: King David
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
Dimensions
27.5 × 20.2 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1985.81
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
The illuminator Jean Bourdichon was court painter to four successive kings of France: Louis XI, Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I. On the basis of surviving documents, he seems to have been principally active between 1478 and 1520. The text is that of Psalm 50 beginning Miserere mei deus (Have mercy on me, O God), and one of the Seven Penitential Psalms found in medieval books of hours. It is the life of David, who according to tradition, was the author of the psalms, that dominates the min...