Leaf from Psalter

Description The Tree of Jesse (described in Isaiah 1:11), which recalls the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden and the wood of the True Cross, illustrates the genealogy of Christ. In the margins, lush, flowering vines populated by birds and amusing putti, or winged children?one blowing a horn, another strangling a snake reminiscent of the serpent that tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit, and others cultivating or plucking flowers?embellish the theme of salvation associated with Jesse's tree.

Exhibitions

• Manuscript Painting in the Renaissance. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1989-1990.
• The Psalms of David in the Middle Ages. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996.
• Dressed in Gold: Books of the Italian Renaissance. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2005-2006.
• Paradise Imagined: Images of the Garden in the Islamic and Christian World. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2012.

Provenance Private collection [arms of original owner on fol. 15r]; L. S. Olschki [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [no. 35718]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters