BIBLE, ILLUMINATED BY THE SARUM MASTER, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [England (Salisbury), mid 13th century]

BIBLE, ILLUMINATED BY THE SARUM MASTER, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

[England (Salisbury), mid 13th century]

II + 597 leaves, c. 170 × 115mm, apparently complete except for probably two leaves at the end containing the final three chapters of the Apocalypse, and potentially also the Interpretations of Hebrew Names on an unknown number of leaves, the modern pencil foliation includes the old flyleaves and repeats 106, 238, 274, 351, 409, and 574, and therefore only reaches ‘591’ at the last leaf, written in a fine gothic script in two columns of 47 lines, below top line, the ruled space c.120 × 75mm, chapter numbers and running headings in characters alternately red or blue, some prologues with initials in blue with red penwork flourishing, illuminated with MORE THAN 50 HISTORIATED INITIALS typically eight or nine lines high, sometimes accompanied by marginal sketches to guide the illuminator, and ABOUT 85 FOLIATE INITIALS typically five or six lines high, often with prolonged ascenders or descenders, some (including the Genesis initial) extending almost the full height of the page; some signs of wear and thumbing, and a few margins torn or excised, e.g. the lower margin on fol. 104v, affecting the descender of the initial, but generally in fine condition; sewn on six bands and bound in nondescript ‘brown calf’ by 1930, and in ‘modern vellum’ by 1974, rebound c. 1990 by James Brockman in wood boards covered with white pigskin with blind fillets and two clasps; in a fitted black leather box, with a spine-title in gilt capitals: ‘Biblia Latina / Sarum Master / England 1250’.

PROVENANCE

1. A 16th-century English owner added a list of the Old Testament books (fol. 2v).
2. David Lawson, 1563: inscribed ‘David Lausson me iuste possedet 5 annorum. 1563’ (fol. 3r).
3. Robert Bates, Jr, 1776: inscribed ‘Rob^t. Bates, Jun^r. 1776’ (fol. 2r).
4. Maggs Bros, Catalogue 542 (1930), no. 50, priced £275.
5. Reported to have been in an Austrian collection; sold in our rooms, 9 December 1974, lot 61; bought by:
6. The British Rail Pension Fund, whose manuscripts were acquired en bloc in 1988 by:
7. J. Paul Getty, Jr (1932–2003), American-born British philanthropist and book collector, who kept a selection and deaccessioned others:
8. Sam Fogg, Catalogue 14 (1991), no. 4; bought in September 1991 by:
9. The Böhlen Collection, Bern, MS 1202.

TEXT

The Old (fol. 3r) and New (fol. 472v) Testaments, with prologues (for their selection and sequence, see Illumination below), ending at Revelation 19:20. Job is heavily annotated in the margins in leadpoint, including indications of some of the lessons for the Office of the Dead.

ILLUMINATION

The Sarum Master (so-called after a common abbreviation of the Latin name for Salisbury), is one of the most interesting and important English illuminators of the 13th century, and his work is some of the most visually attractive. 

He has been described as ‘one of the greatest artists of the period’ (Age of Chivalry exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London, 1987, p. 152), but he is also something of an enigma, however, and his career is not clearly defined: unlike his contemporaries William de Brailes at Oxford and Matthew Paris at St Albans, we have no documentary evidence about him, and we therefore have to rely on his attributed works for evidence. There is strong circumstantial evidence that he was based at Salisbury: he illuminated a luxury psalter for a nun of Amesbury (about 8 miles / 12 km north-east of Salisbury) and another for a nun of Wilton (about 3 miles / 5 km west of Salisbury) (Oxford, All Souls College, MS 6, and London, Royal College of Physicians, MS 409); another of his manuscripts is the earliest surviving Missal for the Use of Sarum (Manchester, Rylands Library, MS Lat. 24); and one of his works, a Bible, is dated 1254, and was written for Thomas de la Wile, who was a canon of Salisbury, by the scribe William de Hales, who may have been from Hale, about 10 miles / 15 km south of Salisbury (London, BL, Royal MS 1 B.xii). In some of these books (as in the present Bible) he seems to have worked with assistants, suggesting that he was part of a reasonably large and well-developed centre of book production – not many places in England in the mid-13th century, apart from Londong and Oxford, could provide sufficient work to support several illuminators. It may be that Salisbury became a centre of luxury book production due to its proximity to the royal residence at Clarendon Palace (less than 2½ miles / 3½ km, east of Salisbury) and commissions generated by the royal household and its aristocratic circle. Manuscripts illuminated by the Sarum Master have been discussed especially by Albert Hollaender (1944), Christopher de Hamel (1982), and Nigel Morgan (1988). 

‘The style is characterised … by emphasis on linear folds within the context of a painterly style. This artist’s work indicates a liking for monumental dramatic compositions, suggesting origins in a large-scale medium, such as wall painting … Some evidence indicates that the Sarum Master derived his style and some features of his subject matter from painting around 1200, which he reinterpreted more elegantly’ (Marks & Morgan, 1981). ‘The figures are elongated in proportion and have a combination of delicacy with graceful nobility … The work of the Sarum Master is full of iconographic invention, both in narrative imagery and devotional types’ (Morgan, 1988, p. 21). The palette is dominated by a deep blue (often with a semée of bright white triple dots) and red, often accompanied by a characteristic pale blue-green (presumably copper-based, to judge by its tendency to friability). There may be three or more illuminators represented here; one attempt has been made to distinguish between five pen-flourishers and several illuminators, ultimately concluding that ‘The division of hands is not straightforward and would benefit from further study’ (Sutton, 1991).

The illuminations are:

(fol. 3r) General prologue. St Jerome depicted as a medieval scribe

(fol. 5v) Pentateuch prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 7r) Genesis. The Seven Days of Creation and the Crucifixion

(fol. 28r) Exodus. The Finding of Moses

(fol. 46v) Leviticus. God speaking with Moses in the wilderness

(fol. 59) Numbers. God speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai 

(fol. 76v) Deuteronomy. Moses explaining the Law to the Children of Israel 

(fol. 93r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 93v) Joshua. The Death of Moses and God speaking with Joshua

(fol. 104v) Judges. Two men (the Children of Israel) praying to God; the lower margin excised

(fol. 116r) Ruth. Standing figure of Ruth

(fol. 117v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 118v) 1 Samuel. Ornamental, with a dragon

(fol. 135r) 2 Samuel. Ornamental, with a prostrate half-naked man at the base of the initial (ill. in Sotheby's, 9 December 1974)

(fol. 148v) 1 Kings. Ornamental

(fol. 164v) 2 Kings. Ornamental, with a rabbit blowing a horn and a monkey playing a harp

(fol. 179r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 179v) 1 Chronicles. Ornamental

(fol. 194v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 195r) 2 Chronicles. Ornamental

(fol. 211r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 211v) I Ezra. Ornamental

(fol. 216r) Nehemiah (II Ezra). Ornamental

(fol. 223r) I Esdras (III Ezra). Ornamental

(fol. 230r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 230r) Tobit. Ornamental

(fol. 235r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 235r) Judith. Ornamental

(fol. 240v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 240v) Esther. Ornamental

(fol. 246v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 247v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 247v) Job. Ornamental

(fol. 259v) Psalm 1. King David playing the harp (col. ill. in Fogg, 1991)

(fol. 264r) Psalm 26. a blind man pointing to his eyes

(fol. 267r) Psalm 38. A wayfarer pointing to his own tongue

(fol. 269v) Psalm 51. The Suicide of King Saul

(fol. 269v) Psalm 52. A cowled jester, with an inflated bladder on a string, addressing a man

(fol. 272r) Psalm 68. Jonah escaping from the whale (cf. f.431v)

(fol. 274ν) Psalm 80. Two musicians playing and God blessing

(fol. 277v) Psalm 97. Priests singing at a lectern

(fol. 278r) Psalm 101. A kneeling cleric

(fol. 281r) Psalm 109. God the Father grasping the arm of Christ enthroned beside him

(fol. 288r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 288r) Proverbs. King Solomon with his finger raised in admonition

(fol. 298r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 298r) Ecclesiastes. Ornamental

(fol. 301v) Song of Solomon

(fol. 303r) Wisdom. Ornamental

(fol. 310v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 311r) Ecclesiasticus. Ornamental

(fol. 330v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 331r) Isaiah. Isaiah asleep

(fol. 353v) Prologue. Ornamental penwork 

(fol. 353v) Jeremiah. Jeremiah holding an inscribed scroll, preaching to a group of men

(fol. 380v) Lamentations. Jeremiah preaching

(fol. 383r) Prayer of Jeremiah

(fol. 383r) Prologue. Ornamental, penwork

(fol. 383r) Baruch. Ornamental

(fol. 386v) Prologue. Ornamental fish

(fol. 387r) Ezekiel. Ornamental

(fol. 411r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 411v) Daniel. Ornamental

(fol. 422r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 422r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 422r) Hosea. Hosea with a scroll 

(fol. 425v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 426r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 426r) Joel. Joel with a book

(fol. 427v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 427v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 427v) Amos. Ornamental

(fol. 430r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 430r) Obadiah. Ornamental

(fol. 431r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 431v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 431v, Jonah) Jonah escaping from the whale (ill. in Sotheby's, 9 December 1974)

(fol. 432v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 432v) Micah. Micah holding a scroll

(fol. 434v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 434v) Nahum. Nahum with a scroll

(fol. 435v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 436r) Habakkuk. Habakkuk with a scroll

(fol. 437r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 437v) Zephaniah. Zephaniah with a scroll

(fol. 438v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 439r) Haggai. Ornamental

(fol. 439v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 440r) Zechariah. Ornamental

(fol. 444r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 444r) Malachai. Malachai with a scroll

(fol. 445v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 445v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 446r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 446r) 1 Maccabees. Alexander the Great with his sword raised

(fol. 461v) 2 Maccabees. A king with a sceptre (col. ill. in Fogg, 1991)

(fol. 472v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 472v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 473r) Matthew. The Face of Christ, or The Veronica Image

(fol. 488v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 489r) Mark. The Winged Lion with a halo and a scroll 

(fol. 489v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 498v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 499r) Luke. The Winged Ox with a scroll inscribed ‘S. LVCAS’

(fol. 515v) Prologue. The Eagle with a scroll

(fol. 516r) John. Ornamental

(fol. 428v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 528v) Romans. St Paul with book and sword

(fol. 434v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 534v) 1 Corinthians. St Paul with sword

(fol. 540v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 540v) 2 Corinthians. St Paul holding a sword by the tip, and a book; a lion at the base

(fol. 544v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 544v) Galatians. St Paul with a scroll (ill. in Maggs, 1930)

(fol. 546v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 546v) Ephesians. St Paul writing his epistle, with knife and pen 

(fol. 548v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 548v) Philippians. St Paul with sword (col. ill. in Fogg, 1991)

(fol. 550r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 550r) Colossians. St Paul with sword

(fol. 531v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 551v) 1 Thessalonians. St Paul with sword and with his hand raised

(fol. 552v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 552v) 2 Thessalonians. St Paul with book; a lion at the foot of the initial 

(fol. 553v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 553v) 1 Timothy. St Paul with sword and book

(fol. 555r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 555r) 2 Timothy. St Paul with book, a dragon at the foot of the initial 

(fol. 556r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 556) Titus. St Paul holding a sword by its tip, and a book

(fol. 557r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 557r) Philemon. St Paul holding a sword by the tip

(fol. 557r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 557v) Hebrews. Ornamental

(fol. 562r) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 562r) Acts. Ornamental

(fol. 577v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 578r) James. Ornamental

(fol. 579v) 1 Peter. A young man (St Peter?) writing a scroll 

(fol. 581r) 2 Peter. Ornamental

(fol. 582r) 1 John. St John holding a book

(fol. 583v) 2 John. Ornamental

(fol. 584r) 3 John. Ornamental

(fol. 584r) Jude. Ornamental

(fol. 584v) Prologue. Ornamental

(fol. 585r) Apocalypse. St John seated at a desk writing his Revelation

REFERENCES

Maggs Bros Ltd, Catalogue 542: The Art of Writing 2800 B.C. to 1930 A.D.: Illustrated in a Collection of Original Documents Written on Vellum, Paper, Papyrus, Silk, Linen, Bamboo, or Inscribed on Clay, Marble, Stealite, Jasper, Haematite, Matrix of Emerald, and Chalcedony ... (London, 1930), no. 50 (full-page pl. on p. 73).

A. Hollaender, ‘The Sarum Illuminator and His School’, Wiltshire Archæological & Natural History Magazine, 50 (1944), pp. 230–62.

P. Brieger, English Art 1216­–1307 (Oxford, 1957; 2nd edn., 1968), pp. 174–6, pls. 63, 64a, 65b.

R. Marks and N. Morgan, The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting 1200–1500 (New York & London, 1981), pp. 11 fig. IV, 14, 54–61, col. pls. 8–11.

C. de Hamel, ‘Books in Medieval Salisbury’, The Hatcher Review, 2 no. 13 (1982), pp. 99–109.

Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200–1400, ed. by J. Alexander and P. Binski (London, 1987), nos. 108, 316, 347 and p. 152.

N. Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts [II]: 1250–1285 (London, 1988), nos. 99–103.

Sam Fogg Rare Books, Catalogue 14: Medieval Manuscripts, catalogued by K. Sutton (London, 1991), no. 4 (3 full-page col. pls.).