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Source Description

This Psalter, with an additional Office of the Dead, was created in the late thirteenth century in northeastern France. A large quantity of Franciscan saints in the calendar and litany, as well as marginal imagery of them, suggests that the original owner had a strong affinity for that order. The manuscript was likely begun for one patron but finished for another, given a change in scribal and artistic hands and the addition of heraldry from Psalm 109 onward. Arms for the Fieschi family, as well as a birth notice in the calendar, identify the manuscript's first owner as Leonardo dei Fieschi, a Genoese nobleman (d. 1331). Among a multitude of drolleries, the manuscript contains a number of unusual marginal vignettes depicting SS. Francis, Clare, and Elisabeth of Hungary. One image of St. Francis (fol. 139v) is heavily worn, which may be evidence of devotional touching by the manuscript's owner.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
92290
label
Leaf from Fieschi Psalter: Psalter Text
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
92290
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Leaf from Fieschi Psalter: Psalter Text
description
This Psalter, with an additional Office of the Dead, was created in the late thirteenth century in northeastern France. A large quantity of Franciscan saints in the calendar and litany, as well as marginal imagery of them, suggests that the original owner had a strong affinity for that order. The manuscript was likely begun for one patron but finished for another, given a change in scribal and artistic hands and the addition of heraldry from Psalm 109 onward. Arms for the Fieschi family, as well as a birth notice in the calendar, identify the manuscript's first owner as Leonardo dei Fieschi, a Genoese nobleman (d. 1331). Among a multitude of drolleries, the manuscript contains a number of unusual marginal vignettes depicting SS. Francis, Clare, and Elisabeth of Hungary. One image of St. Francis (fol. 139v) is heavily worn, which may be evidence of devotional touching by the manuscript's owner.
provenance
Acquired by Leonardo dei Fieschi (d. 1331), Genoa, ca. 1290-1331. Acquired by Léon or Paul Gruel, Paris, ca. 1900-1910; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
ca. 1275-1300
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
folios (leaves)
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
18
height
12.9
dimensionsRaw
H: 7 1/16 × W: 5 1/16 in. (18 × 12.9 cm)
Source extras
style
Gothic
med
ink and pigments on parchment
creator_ids
6505
collection_ids
MSS
MED
exhibition_ids
3316
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ecd0a1aa820465ce