The S initial of the Winchester Bible and the H initial of the Pontigny Bible. Prologue to the Book of Jonah, Winchester Bible, fol. 204, ca. 1150–80. Winchester Cathedral Priory of St, Swithun. Tempera and gold on parchment. Lent by the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. Image courtesy of the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. Manuscript Illumination with Initial H, from a Bible, ca. 1175–95. Pontigny, France. Tempera and gold on parchment; 11 5/8 x 6 in. (29.5 x 15.2cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1999 (1999.241.1)
The team of artists producing the Winchester Bible, on view through March 8, were among the most original and inventive in Europe before 1200. The display of the Bible within the Museum's collection of contemporary medieval works enhances the picture of the larger setting and warrants a closer look. The connection between the Winchester Bible and Spain, explored in an earlier blog post, is one of the more fascinating instances of artistic migration. Let's explore three others that look to Burgundy in France, the Meuse Valley in Belgium, and Sicily.
The wonderful initial S that opens the book of Jonah (pictured above, at left) is dominated by a great serpent. It has been assigned to the Genesis Master, whose key work was featured in last week's post. The color palette and the use of intertwined tendrils and blossoms is astonishingly similar to the Museum's initial H from the Pontigny Bible (above right) created in around 1175. This leaf from the Pontigny Bible, made in the French Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny (Burgundy), is a contemporary of the Winchester Bible. The Cistercians generally disliked gold or figural imagery. Here the initial H presents a vibrant coil of vines and leaves.
Very similar decorative tendencies also appear almost simultaneously in a variety of illuminated manuscripts produced in Paris, other northern French centers, and in English centers such as Canterbury. For example, the use of "Byzantine blossoms" within tendrils is a feature also found in a major psalter produced at Christ Church, Canterbury (pictured below). If this does reflect a certain standardization and widespread homogeneity, illuminators may have utilized alphabet pattern books that were available to artists, including the Genesis Master in Winchester.
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Psalter produced at Christ Church, Canterbury. Fol.15v, ca 1170. Paris, France. Bibliotheque nationale de France (8846). Picture courtesy of the author.
The Master of Apocrypha Drawings was highly inventive and individual, and his framing devises for compositions reflect an effort to anchor scenes within an architectural setting. He created the opening initial F (pictured below, at left) for the first book of Kings in the Winchester Bible showing Elkanah and his wives. The painting was, however, completed by the Master of the Morgan Leaf, who imbued the scene with a more humanizing and classicizing character.
Essentially the F initial reveals both an indoors and an outdoors setting. A floating table for the feast is set before Elkanah, who is in the center amid his wives and servants, and the room is framed by a trefoil arch with the cityscape depicted above. One can clearly see a similar visual approach to a champlevé enamel of the Pentecost (pictured below, at right) produced in the Valley of the Meuse in Belgium at the same time the Winchester Bible was created.
Here the Pentecost is shown in a similar interior setting framed by a trefoil arch with the cityscape above and the rays of the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles. With similar guiding principles of composition and the complex use of translucent glasses and gold to create a brilliant effect—not unlike those of the manuscript illuminator—both artists have created a complementary artistic vision.
The Winchester Bible: Opening for the Book of I Samuel (Book of Kings), fol.88, ca. 1150–80. Winchester Cathedral Priory of St, Swithun. Tempera and gold on parchment. Lent by the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. Image courtesy of the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. The Pentecost, ca. 1150–75. Made in Meuse Valley, South Netherlands. Champlevé and translucent enamel on copper gilt; Overall: 4 1/16 x 4 1/16 x 1/4 in. (10.3 x 10.3 x 0.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection 1965 (65.105)
Bishop Henry of Blois, who commissioned the Winchester Bible, was a contemporary and friend of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. The martyrdom of Becket in Canterbury, England, on December 29, 1170, electrified the world and his rapid canonization in 1173 made him an instant saintly model throughout Europe. The smallest of the items displayed with the Winchester Bible is a kind of golden talisman (pictured above), worn around one's neck and functioning as a perpetual protector, containing tiny sacred relics within it. The Latin inscription on the locket says that the reliquary contains, under a crystal, parts of Becket's vestments stained with his blood.
Reliquary Pendant with Queen Margaret of Sicily Blessed by Bishop Reginald of Bath, 1174–77. Made in Canterbury, England. Gold; Overall: 1 15/16 x 1 1/4 x 1/4 in. (5 x 3.1 x 0.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1961 (63.160)
The talisman was said to have been found in Sicily, although the relics and crystal covering it are now lost. The powerful intention of the work is indisputable, however. The inscription indicated that it was a gift from Reginald Fitzsocelin, bishop of Bath from 1174 to 1191, to Queen Margaret of Sicily, who died in 1183. Perhaps it was given to the queen in recognition of her support of Thomas Becket. It is the earliest surviving reliquary of Thomas Becket, and its link with Sicily is intriguing since Margaret was the wife of William I of Sicily (1131–66) and regent for their son William II (1166–89) who eventually married the daughter of Henry II of England (1133–89), Joanna (1165–99). The fine engraving of the queen receiving the blessing of the bishop on the reverse closely corresponds to the drawing of Ecclesiastes in the Winchester Bible (pictured below). As a product of the burgeoning traffic of relics of Thomas Becket, it is likely that the talisman originated in Canterbury. So much English Romanesque goldsmith work was melted down that this locket is a very precious reminder of their superb workmanship.
Ecclesiastes by the Master of the Leaping Figures. Book of Ecclesiastes, V, Winchester Bible, fol. 268. Photograph by John Crook
The Winchester Bible illuminations can be taken as a barometer of the high levels of artistic accomplishment of the age. It can also be seen as something that combined the cultural heritages of different parts of a Europe that was becoming increasingly international in character.