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CMA: Medieval Art

@cmamedieval.bsky.social

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Sharing public domain works from the Medieval Art department of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Automated thanks to @andreitr.bsky.social and @botfrens.bsky.social

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CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 24m

Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Flowers and Squirrel (verso) https://clevelandart.org/art/2006.15.b

These three leaves represent the charming, intricate decoration found throughout the parent volume, its leaves now dispersed. Virtually every border, recto and verso, was decorated with liquid gold and highlighted with a variety of flowers, fruits, and vegetables—carnations, thistles, roses, violets, peas, melons—as well as cornucopias, satyrs, masks, insects, birds, etc. The decoration is particularly charming because of the little vignettes within the borders. These motifs depict a girl kneading bread, a cook ladling soup, a goose nibbling grapes off a vine, and a satyr with a horn. Such details would have been a sumptuous delight to the original owner. This was a highly personalized volume, apparently written and illuminated in North Germany. The prominent mention of Saint Godehard (died 1038), Bishop of Hildesheim, in the original manuscript suggests that it was produced in that city.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 1h

Fol. 230r, Psalm 97, historiated initial C, two clerics singing at a lectern.
https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.2.230.a

Biblical manuscripts were highly prized and important possessions of churches, monasteries, cathedral schools, and universities throughout medieval Europe. The biblical texts were known as the vulgate, the translations made by Saint Jerome in the fourth century from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, which became the definitive and official Latin version of the Roman Church. In the 13th century, the bible was, for the first time, produced as a single volume with an officially sanctioned sequence to its books and chapters as illustrated by this example. The very extensive decoration of this bible is arranged hierarchically to indicate the relative importance of the various texts so that full or almost full-page initials mark the openings of the first prologue, Genesis, and the first Gospel; historiated initials mark the beginning of each book and illuminated initials mark the Prologues.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 3h

The Gotha Missal: Fol. 27v, Text https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.287.27.b

This elegant Latin manuscript is known today as the Gotha Missal after its eighteenth-century owners, the German Dukes of Gotha. The volume was originally copied and illuminated in Paris around 1375—a commission of the Valois king, Charles V "the Wise" (reigned 1364–80), one of the great bibliophiles of the 1400s and brother of Dukes Philip the Bold of Burgundy and Jean de Berry. Manuscript missals were not intended for the lay user; the present volume was used by the king's private chaplain and was probably housed in Charles's private chapel, possibly in his principle residence, the Palace of the Louvre (demolished in the 1500s). The main decorative body of the missal consists of two full-page miniatures comprising the Canon of the Mass and 23 small miniatures. The style and high quality of the decoration points to its inclusion within a select group of manuscripts accepted today by the hand of Jean Bondol. Bondol was active at the court of Charles V from 1368 until 1381, where he was head of the court workshop and also served as the king's valet de chambre. The blind-tooled leather binding dates to the 1400s.

Reposted by CMA: Medieval Art

Mark Rothko @markrothko.bsky.social · 13d

Untitled
https://botfrens.com/collections/25/contents/1211869

Gift of the Mark Rothko Foundation

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 17h

Seal of Doge Michele Steno https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.198

This opulent seal, an example of the splendor surrounding the ruler of Venice, was once attached to a charter issued in1409. Seals were molded or embossed and attached to official documents as evidence of authenticity. This example is thought to be one of the finest Venetian seals to be preserved.

Reposted by CMA: Medieval Art

Henri Matisse @henrimatisse.bsky.social · 14d

Woman with a Hat, 1905
https://botfrens.com/collections/48/contents/15491

Woman with a Hat

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 22h

Addedomaros Stater (reverse) https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.147.b

Addedomaros Stater (reverse)

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 1d

Nomisma with John I Zimisces (reverse) https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.61.b

Byzantine Gold Coins

The vast number of surviving Byzantine coins attests to the level of trade across the empire. Controlled and supervised by the emperor, the producers of coins took care to represent his authority and reflect his stature. Talented artists were recruited to engrave the dies (molds) used for the striking of coins. Emperors increasingly came to include their heirs and co-emperors on their coinage, as well as other family members or even earlier rulers. Coins were recognized, then as now, as small, portable works of art. With their inscriptions and images, Byzantine coins provide valuable documentation of historical events and a record of the physical appearance of the emperors. The coins shown here include the solidus, the basic gold coin of 24 karats; the tremissis, a gold coin of one-third the weight and value of the solidus; and the nomisma, which in the 10th century replaced the solidus as the standard gold coin.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 1d

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 83v https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.83.b

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric, but for the private devotions of a lay person-in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451-1504). Isabella's coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Reposted by CMA: Medieval Art

CMA: Photography @cmaphotography.bsky.social · 14d

Camera Work: On a Dutch Shore https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.199.8.b

Camera Work: On a Dutch Shore

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 1d

Tower Unite (obverse) https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.193.a

Tower Unite (obverse)

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CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 15d

Pair of Gothic Fan-Shaped Pauldron (right) https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.2080.1

Pair of Gothic Fan-Shaped Pauldron (right)

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 1d

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 150v https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.227.150.b

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 150v

Reposted by CMA: Medieval Art

Joan Miró @joanmiro.bsky.social · 15d

Ciphers and Constellations, in Love with a Woman https://www.wikiart.org/en/joan-miro/ciphers-and-constellations-in-love-with-a-woman

Ciphers and Constellations, in Love with a Woman

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 1d

Five Guineas [pattern] https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.211

Five Guineas [pattern]

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 2d

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 19v https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.227.19.b

Book of Hours (Use of Rouen): fol. 19v

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 2d

The Gotha Missal: Fol. 75v Text https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.287.75.b

This elegant Latin manuscript is known today as The Gotha Missal after its eighteenth-century owners, the German Dukes of Gotha. The volume was originally copied and illuminated in Paris around 1375 -- a commission of the Valois king, Charles V "the Wise" (1364-1380), one of the great bibliophiles of the fifteenth century and brother of Dukes Philip the Bold of Burgundy and Jean de Berry. Manuscript missals were not intended for the lay user, but rather for the use of the celebrant at Mass. The present volume was therefore meant to be used by the king's private chaplain and was probably housed in Charles's private chapel, possibly in his principle residence, the Palace of the Louvre (demolished in the sixteenth century). The main decorative body of the missal consists of two full-page miniatures comprising the Canon of the Mass and twenty-three small miniatures. The style and high quality of the decoration points to its inclusion withing a select group of manuscripts accepted today as from the hand of Jean Bondol. Bondol was active at the court of Charles V from 1368 until 1381 where he headed the court workshop and also served as the king's valet de chambre. The blind-tooled leather binding dates to the fifteenth century.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 2d

Altarpiece with The Passion of Christ https://clevelandart.org/art/1951.453.a

The visual focus of this altarpiece is the suffering and death of Christ on the cross. So-called Passion cycles in art include the events leading up to and following the Crucifixion, not only as single subjects but as scenes meant to be read in sequence. Passion cycles were promoted by the two great teaching orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, for whom this subject represented the main religious drama of their churches, and also by the German mystics who advocated private contemplation on the humanity and suffering of Christ. The original context for this altarpiece remains unknown, but it was probably made for a religious institution in Westphalia in the Rhine Valley. During the 1870s it was given to the Abbey of Schlägl, near Linz in Upper Austria, from which both altarpiece and artist take their names. The altarpiece is not preserved today in its original format, and some of the individual scenes are missing. Scholars continue to debate the original number of scenes and their sequencing; nine of the original panels have survived.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 2d

Missale: Fol. 173: Music for "Alleluia" etc. at beginning of Easter https://clevelandart.org/art/2006.154.173.a

Missale: Fol. 173: Music for "Alleluia" etc. at beginning of Easter

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 2d

Leaf from a Gradual with Historiated Initial (M): SS. Peter and Andrew https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.87

Leaf from a Gradual with Historiated Initial (M): SS. Peter and Andrew

Reposted by CMA: Medieval Art

CMA: Islamic Art @cmaislamic.bsky.social · 15d

Inscribed Tombstone of Shaikh al-Husain ibn
Abdallah ibn al-Hasan (died 1110) https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.9

Arabic calligraphy, the supreme art form in the Islamic world, enhances this tombstone. The elegant Arabic script embellished with leaf tendrils at the top of the tall letters is called floriated Kufic. Verses about paradise from the holy Koran border the central arch-shaped niche that resembles a mosque's mihrab, located in the wall closest to the holy city of Mecca. The name of the deceased and the year of his death are recorded within the niche above the names of the carvers: "The work of Abaidallah Murra(?) and 'Umar(?)." The inscriptions from the Koran translate as follows: Outer border (read from right to left): "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Every soul shall taste of death; and ye shall only receive your recompenses on the Day of Resurrection. And who so shall escape the fire, and be brought into Paradise, shall be happy And the life [of this world is but a cheating fruition]" (3:185). Inner border: "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. But as for those who say, 'Our Lord is God'; and who go straight to Him, the Angels shall descend to them and say 'Fear ye not, neither be ye grieved, but rejoice ye in the Paradise which ye have been [promised]'" (41:30).

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 2d

The Gotha Missal: Fol. 105r, Text https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.287.105.a

This elegant Latin manuscript is known today as The Gotha Missal after its eighteenth-century owners, the German Dukes of Gotha. The volume was originally copied and illuminated in Paris around 1375 -- a commission of the Valois king, Charles V "the Wise" (1364-1380), one of the great bibliophiles of the fifteenth century and brother of Dukes Philip the Bold of Burgundy and Jean de Berry.

Manuscript missals were not intended for the lay user, but rather for the use of the celebrant at Mass. The present volume was therefore meant to be used by the king's private chaplain and was probably housed in Charles's private chapel, possibly in his principle residence, the Palace of the Louvre (demolished in the sixteenth century).

The main decorative body of the missal consists of two full-page miniatures comprising the Canon of the Mass and twenty-three small miniatures. The style and high quality of the decoration points to its inclusion withing a select group of manuscripts accepted today as from the hand of Jean Bondol. Bondol was active at the court of Charles V from 1368 until 1381 where he headed the court workshop and also served as the king's valet de chambre. The blind-tooled leather binding dates to the fifteenth century.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 3d

The Visitation: Leaf from a Book of Hours (5 of 6 Excised Leaves) https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.172

These leaves survive from what must have been an extraordinarily rich book of hours. Stylistically, the illuminations relate to the workshop of Henri d'Orquevaulx, a documented Metz manuscript painter. Little is known about d'Orquevaulx's life or career. Compositionally, structurally, and stylistically, the miniatures suggest strong links to Netherlandish illumination.

CMA: Medieval Art @cmamedieval.bsky.social · 3d

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 3v, February https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.256.3.b

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically painted flowers, birds, and butterflies. This prayer book, called a book of hours, was intended not for a cleric but for the private devotions of a lay person—in this case, Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain (1451–1504); her coat of arms embellishes the book's frontispiece. It is unlikely that the book was commissioned by the Queen herself; rather, she probably received it as a diplomatic gift from someone courting her patronage, perhaps Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. A Franciscan friar, Jimenez was dependent upon Isabella for his advancement, first to the post of Queen's confessor in 1492, and then to Archbishop of Toledo in 1495.

Reposted by CMA: Medieval Art

Henri Matisse @henrimatisse.bsky.social · 16d

The Terrace, St. Tropez, 1904
https://botfrens.com/collections/48/contents/15320

The Terrace, St. Tropez