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Gospel Book
(Manuscripts and Rare Books)
The Gospel text in this Constantinopolitan manuscript of ca. 1000 is now fragmentary and its folios are bound out of order. However, it provides a fine and quite early example of the so-called pearl script: a calligraphic form of minuscule handwriting that was extremely popular in the Byzantine Empire. The single surviving miniature is of interest because of the peculiar technique, similar to watercolor, in which it was painted. Another Evangelist portrait from the same set survives in Mount Athos, Docheiariou Monastery MS 56.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 2014-2016 | From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2004 | Illuminating the Word: Gospel Books in the Middle Ages. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 1990-1991 | The Book and the Author: Portraits of the Evangelists in Eastern and Western Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1986 | Byzantine Gold: Illumination in Greek Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1984-1985 | Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1973 | Illuminated Greek Manuscripts from American Collections; An Exhibition in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton. |
| 1947 | Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. |
| 1940 | Arts of the Middle Ages. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston. |
Geographies
Byzantine Empire (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Overall H: 7 7/8 x W: 5 7/8 x D: 1 7/8 in. (20 x 15 x 4.8 cm); Folio H: 8 1/16 × W: 5 7/8 in. (20.4 × 15 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
W.527