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Source Description
During the early Medieval period, artists created sophisticated interplays between word and image. Often, the opening words of each Gospel would be intricately decorated, with the ornament and letters intertwined. Although the Medieval viewer would know what it should say and had no need to read it, deciphering the page, and thereby focusing attention on the sacred word of God, became an act of spiritual contemplation.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
13279
label
Incipit page for the Gospel of St. John
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
13279
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Incipit page for the Gospel of St. John
description
During the early Medieval period, artists created sophisticated interplays between word and image. Often, the opening words of each Gospel would be intricately decorated, with the ornament and letters intertwined. Although the Medieval viewer would know what it should say and had no need to read it, deciphering the page, and thereby focusing attention on the sacred word of God, became an act of spiritual contemplation.
provenance
Written in the Monastery of Corvey on the Weser River in Germany ca. 940-975, during the reign of Otto I [based on style and paleography]; [Originally part of a Gospel Book belonging to the Chapter Library of the Cathedral of Rheims until the French Revolution, now Ms. 10 in the Rheims Municipal Library]; Sir Thomas Phillips, London, ca. 1855 [mode of acquisition unknown] [Ms. 14122, noted on bottom of fol. 1r]; A. Chester Beatty, December 1920, acquired privately from Phillips collection; Walters Art Museum, October 1952, by purchase [from Mrs. Chester Beatty through Maggs Brothers].
date
ca. 950-975 (Ottonian)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
folios (leaves)
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
31.2
height
24.2
dimensionsRaw
H: 12 5/16 x W: 9 1/2 in. (31.2 x 24.2 cm)
Source extras
style
Ottonian
med
ink and pigments on thick parchment, with suede surface on flesh side
creator_ids
6211
collection_ids
MSS
exhibition_ids
2829
96
2289
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
eea2ddda9cd78122