Leaf from a Psalter: Initial D: David in Prayer before an Altar and Christ in a Cloud (2 of 2 Excised Leaves)
Unknown Artist
c. 1270–1280
Medium
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Dimensions
17.9 × 13.5 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection
Accession Number
2006.8
About this artwork
An impressive eight-line initial represents a kneeling David praying before an altar amid stylized topiaries and set against a burnished gold ground. The text introduces Psalm 101: Domine exaudi orationem meam (Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my crying come unto thee). Facial types for the figures are rather coarse, with hard lines and sharp expressions and very schematic drawing of the hair and poses are rigid and angular. Hard drapery patterns emphasize the triangular folds and the marginal ou...