William of Tyre's "Histoire d'Outre Mer"
(Manuscripts and Rare Books, Medieval Europe )
This manuscript, completed in the later part of the thirteenth century, contains William of Tyre's Estoire d'Eracles (to 1229), Les Faits des Romains (continuation, Tiberius to Julian), and a letter of Prester John. While the origin of the manuscript is debatable between Acre and Paris, Jaroslav Folda suggests a strong connection with Epinal 45, a manuscript known to have been created in Paris during this same time. Versions of William of Tyre's work were particularly popular in France during the latter part of the thirteenth century. The volume of William de Tyre's history of the Crusades housed at the Walters Art Museum features eighteen historiated initials, completed by four different artists' hands, of varying competence. What sets this particular manuscript apart from its contemporaries is the two unusual appended texts and its selective pictorial style.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Gordon of Buthlaw, mid 19th century; Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, London, 1861, no. CLIV; Sale, Sotheby's, London, March 16, 1903, lot 689; purchased by Léon Gruel, Paris, March 16, 1903 [1]; puchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1903; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] Gruel and Engelmann bookplate 'No 138'
Exhibitions
2016-2017 | Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
2010 | Checkmate! Medieval People at Play. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
2002 | The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Academy Art Museum, Easton; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton; The Mitchell Gallery, Annapolis; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. |
1991 | Tales in the Telling: Secular Narrative Illustration in the Medieval Book. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
Date | Description | Narrative |
---|---|---|
Loan Consideration | examined for loan | |
10/2/2013 | Treatment | binding stabilized; examined for digitization; media consolidation; splits mended |
8/19/2016 | Treatment | binding stabilized; examined for loan; repaired; splits mended |
Geographies
France, Paris (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Folio H: 13 7/16 × W: 9 5/8 in. (34.1 × 24.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903
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.137