🔥The Great Canterbury Psalter also known as Anglo-Catalan Psalter (Lat. 8846. , Paris) from the
Bibliothèque nationale de France is possibly the most lavishly illuminated psalter ever created. 👉 [ Ссылка ]
The Great Canterbury Psalter from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is, in every way, an exceptional work.
It features three different Latin translations of the psalms, the Roman, Gallican and Hebrew versions, attributed to Saint Jerome. The psalters could be used for liturgical purposes or schooling, but the intended owners of this manuscript must be sought amongst the most powerful and socially prominent classes of the time.
The manuscript was illustrated in two different periods:
The first part, of 184 pages, was illustrated in Canterbury, with the most splendid English paintings from the late twelfth century. It places us in a very complex period, in which the last stages of Romanesque painting transition into Early Gothic style.
The psalter begins with a prologue consisting of 8 extraordinary full-page illustrations, followed by 53 large illustrations at the beginning of each psalm. There are ornamental initials on most of the pages. The folios executed by the English masters unveil a very ambitious pictorial programme of outstanding quality. Their figures are monumental and nimble and their vegetation is lush and fantastical.
However, the English illuminators did not complete the meticulous work they had undertaken.
In their task, which was to produce illustrations of remarkable size, designed as truly daring paintings intended for an erudite audience, they must have followed the text closely.
The second part, painted in Catalonia around the year 1340 is linked to the first Catalan Italianism of the fourteenth century.
It features a universe open to Giotto’s teachings and receptive to the contributions of his famous Tuscan contemporaries. The illustrations in this part were painted by Catalan artist, Ferrer Bassa. He also completed several miniatures in the previous one, using sketches left unfinished by the English artists. There are 46 large illustrations in this part. Numerous historiated initials, usually depicting a king, a praying figure, the Christ, or the Virgin and Child, on a carmine background with gold diapering. It has190 ornamental initials on a gold background and with floral decoration.
The illustrations are set against burnished gold grounds or carmine backgrounds with gold diapering. Another singular characteristic of this beautiful medieval manuscript arises from the combination of the Anglo-Byzantine culture of the 1200s and the pictorial forms of the Italianate Trecento.
There are seven illustrations featuring mixed or hybrid art, in which the miniaturist Ferrer Bassa colours the images designed by the 12th-century English workshop.
👉 [ Ссылка ]
In conclusion, the Great Canterbury Psalter is a unique and exceptional work consisting of 356 pages, with over 140 large illustrations embellished with gold, and 190 ornamental initials. It combines, in its first part, the best Anglo-Byzantine art of the Early Gothic period with the Italianate Catalan Gothic in its second part.
The codex held a place of honour in the libraries of Jean, duke of Berry, and Margaret of Austria, governor of the Netherlands and the first female bibliophile in history. It eventually entered the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and received the binding of Napoleon I in 1809.
The full-colour, 294-page companion volume to our facsimile edition is the most comprehensive study ever written about the manuscript.
Nigel Morgan (University of Cambridge)
Rosa Alcoy (Universidad de Barcelona)
Klaus Reinhardt (Trier University)
M. Moleiro Editor is delighted to offer you this first, unique and unrepeatable edition, strictly limited to 987 copies each certified by notary public. 👉 [ Ссылка ]
Make your library unique from M. Moleiro Editor.
🎁 Order a FREE catalogue ► [ Ссылка ]
👀Discover all our facsimiles ► [ Ссылка ]
