Isabella Psalter

The Isabella Psalter (BSB Cod.gall. 16), also called the Psalter of Queen Isabella^[1] or the Psalter of Isabella of England,^[2] is a 14th-century volume containing the Book of Psalms, named for Isabella of France, who is herself depicted in it; it was likely a gift upon her betrothal or marriage.^[3] The illuminated manuscript is also notable for its bestiary.

Origin and history of the manuscript

The psalter was produced ca. 1303-1308.^[4] Like its "closest relation," the Tickhill Psalter, it shows a French influence and is similar in content and style to the Queen Mary Psalter^[5] and the Ormesby Psalter.^[6] Like the Queen Mary and Tickhill psalters, and like the Egerton Gospel and the Holkham Picture Bible, some of its captions and illustrations can be traced to the 12th-century Historia scholastica; all these 14th-century manuscripts may have "a thirteenth-century Parisian antecedent, reflected in the Tours Genesis window" (in reference to a window in the clerestory of the Tours Cathedral).^[7] It is currently held in the Bavarian State Library, Munich.^[6]

According to Donald Drew Egbert, the illuminators belong to the same group that illuminated the Tickhill Psalter.^[8] Art historian Ellen Beer, however, states that while there are similarities, Egbert is too quick to identify the illuminators (whom he connects to four other manuscripts as well).^[9] According to Beer, two of the illuminators responsible for the Psalter of St. Louis can be recognized in the Isabella Psalter.^[10]

Description

The psalter measures 28.7 by 20.2 centimetres (11.3 by 8.0 in) and consists of 131 parchment pages.^[11] The first section is a calendar, with two illuminations per page, followed by a section with illuminations of scenes from the Old Testament and a complete bestiary, which (as in the Queen Mary Psalter) are executed as marginalia.^[12]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Beer, Ellen J. (1962). "Gotische Buchmalerei. Literatur von 1945 bis 1961". Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte. 25 (2): 153–65. JSTOR 1481459. 
• Beer, Ellen J. (1981). "Pariser Buchmalerei in der Zeit Ludwigs des Heiligen und im letzten Viertel des 13. Jahrhunderts". Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte. 44 (1): 62–91. JSTOR 1482108. 
• Egbert, Donald Drew (1935). A sister to the Tickhill psalter, the Psalter of Queen Isabella of England: an english gothic manuscript of the early 14th century now in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at Munich, Cod. gall. 16. New York City: New York Public Library. 
• Egbert, Donald Drew (1932). The Tickhill psalter: an English illuminated manuscript of the early fourteenth century. New York City: The New York Public Library. 
• Papanicolaou, Linda Morey (1981). "The Iconography of the Genesis Window of the Cathedral of Tours". Gesta. 20 (1): 179–89. JSTOR 766840. 
• "Psalter der Königin Isabella von England - BSB Cod.gall. 16". Bavarian State Library. Retrieved 25 May 2011. 
• Stanton, Anne Rudloff (2001). The Queen Mary psalter: a study of affect and audience. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-916-9. 
• Stanton, Anne Rudloff (1997). "From Eve to Bathsheba and Beyond: Motherhood in the Queen Mary Psalter". In Jane H. M. Taylor. Women and the book: assessing the visual evidence. The British Library studies in medieval culture. Lesley Janette Smith. Toronto: U of Toronto P. pp. 172–89. ISBN 978-0-8020-8069-1. 
• Sweeney, Del (1995). Agriculture in the Middle Ages: technology, practice, and representation. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P. ISBN 978-0-8122-3282-0. 
• Weir, Alison (2006). Queen Isabella. New York City: Random House. ISBN 978-0-345-45320-4. 
• Wormald, Francis (1941). "The Tickhill Psalter". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 79 (463): 134–35. JSTOR 868383. 

External links

• Isabella Psalter at the Bavarian State Library