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Source Description
Books of hours evolved from psalters, books that contained the Old Testament book of Psalms (sacred songs) for use in churches. Psalters also included calendars, prayers for the dead, and a specific group of prayers known as the Hours of the Virgin. By the 1200s, laypeople were requesting psalters without the cumbersome psalms, and thus the book of hours was born. This leaf contains Psalm 1, which begins with a large, decorated <em>B</em> containing an image of King David kneeling with a plucking instrument on the ground. The text says <em>beatus vir qui non abit</em>, or “blessed is the man.”
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
140146
label
Leaf from a Psalter with Historiated Initial (B): King David
core
obj
dtoType
manuscript
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
140146
contentType
manuscript
title
Leaf from a Psalter with Historiated Initial (B): King David
description
Books of hours evolved from psalters, books that contained the Old Testament book of Psalms (sacred songs) for use in churches. Psalters also included calendars, prayers for the dead, and a specific group of prayers known as the Hours of the Virgin. By the 1200s, laypeople were requesting psalters without the cumbersome psalms, and thus the book of hours was born. This leaf contains Psalm 1, which begins with a large, decorated <em>B</em> containing an image of King David kneeling with a plucking instrument on the ground. The text says <em>beatus vir qui non abit</em>, or “blessed is the man.”
date
c. 1450
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80037875
genreSpecific
Manuscript
imageCount
1
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
tombstone
Leaf from a Psalter with Historiated Initial (B): King David, c. 1450. Italy, Florence, 15th century. Ink, tempera, and gold on parchment; sheet: 45.7 x 34.3 cm (18 x 13 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski, 1964.149
collection
MED - Manuscript Illuminations
dimensions
inscriptions
inscription
Beatus vir qui non abit..
inscription_translation
Blessed is the man..
inscription_remark
Pslam 1
didYouKnow
The larger size of this leaf indicates it could be used by a group of readers.
citations
citation
<em>Catalogue of the Rodolphe Kann Collection: Pictures</em>. Paris: C. Sedelmeyer, 1907.
page_number
Vol. 1, no. 76
citation
Milliken, William Mathewson.<em> Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the Early XVIth Centuries: An Exhibition</em>. Berkeley: University of California, 1963.
page_number
no. 54
citation
Pillsbury, Edmund P. <em>Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage</em>. 1971.
page_number
Cat. no. 47
citation
Levi D'Ancona, Mirella, and Angela Dillon Bussi. <em>The illuminators and illuminations of the choir books from Santa Maria degli Angeli and Santa Maria Nuova and their documents.</em> Florence: Centro Di, 1994.
page_number
p. 66
citation
Levi D'Ancona, Mirella.<em> I corali del monastero di Santa Maria degli Angeli: e le loro miniature asportate </em>: 15 giugno-31 luglio 1995, Biblioteca medicea laurenziana, Firenze : catalogo. Firenze: Centro Di, 1995.
page_number
p. 165, no. 52
creditline
Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:10:43.839000
sourceId
140146
tec
ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Manuscript Illuminations
cul
Italy, Florence, 15th century
med
ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
accession
1964.149
thumbnail_url
image_url
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 45.7 x 34.3 cm (18 x 13 1/2 in.)
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
6a3aa90060f88447