Miniature from a Latin Bible: St. Luke
Unknown Artist
c. 1100
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
sheet: 17.3 × 16.1 cm · framed: 44.5 × 34.3 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1968.190
About this artwork
Inspired by Byzantine painting, this rare miniature represents the last surviving fragment of a once magnificent bible. The fundamental text of every medieval monastery was the Latin Bible. Monastic bibles at this time were usually large, cumbersome books (commonly in two or three volumes) designed to be recited from a lectern-rather than for private study. This exquisite miniature was excised from such a bible and introduces the beginning of the Gospel of St. Luke. Undoubtedly copied and painte...