The Great Canterbury Psalter

(Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris




Shelf mark: Lat. 8846.
Date: 13th/14th C.
Size: ± 480 x 332 mm.
356 pages and more than 140 fascinating miniatures embellished with gold.
190 ornamental letters upon gold ground with plants motifs.
Bound in brown leather.
Leather case.
Full-colour commentary volume (296 p.) by Nigel Morgan (Honorary Professor of the History of Art, Cambridge University), Rosa Alcoy (University of Barcelona) and Klaus Reinhardt (Trier University).
Unique and unrepeatable first edition, strictly limited  to 987 numbered and authenticated copies.
ISBN: 978-84-96400-09-2


SG_5b63154b81f2c_moleiro.com-SG-4c7ce340e366f.jpg

Shelf mark: Lat. 8846.
Date: 13th/14th C.
Size: ± 480 x 332 mm.
356 pages and more than 140 fascinating miniatures embellished with gold.
190 ornamental letters upon gold ground with plants motifs.
Bound in brown leather.
Leather case.
Full-colour commentary volume (296 p.) by Nigel Morgan (Honorary Professor of the History of Art, Cambridge University), Rosa Alcoy (University of Barcelona) and Klaus Reinhardt (Trier University).
Unique and unrepeatable first edition, strictly limited  to 987 numbered and authenticated copies.
ISBN: 978-84-96400-09-2


Pictures

The Great Canterbury Psalter
(Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris



Commentary volume

Commentary volume

The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris


Contents:

From the editor to the reader

Brief description of the manuscript
Nigel Morgan (Honorary Professor of the History of Art, Cambridge University)

The Utrecht Psalter and its copies
Nigel Morgan

The Anglo-Catalan Psalter. The Canterbury part
Nigel Morgan

Ferrer Bassa and the Anglo-Catalan Psalter
Rosa Alcoy (University of Barcelona)

The texts of the Anglo-Catalan Psalter
Klaus Reinhardt (Trier University)

The illustrations of the Anglo-Catalan Psalter
Nigel Morgan
Rosa Alcoy

Bibliography

ISBN: 978-84-96400-08-5


The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris


Descripcion

Description

The Great Canterbury Psalter

(Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris


This manuscript was illustrated in two different periods:
Canterbury, c. 1200: 184 pages. This first section follows the iconographic cycle of the Utrecht Psalter. It opens with what Leroquais called the Psalter prologue, consisting of 8 extraordinary, full-page miniatures, and continues with 52 fascinating miniatures measuring approximately 15 x 32 cm (width of the page) at the beginning of each Psalm. Most pages feature decorated initials.

Catalonia, c. 1340: from page 185 onwards we find 46 miniatures the width of the page and 15 to 25 cm high, surrounded by bright colours and divided into two or three bands each divided into two or three compartments. The few consisting of a single section appear on pages 328 and 340.
The miniatures on pages 144, 146, 160, 162, 164 and 172 are also by Ferrer Bassa, although these are of a rather different style and may have been painted by the Catalan artist upon a sketch that the English artist left unfinished (judging by the composition, the iconography based on the Utrecht Psalter, and the stylistic and technical factors including drapes and the constant use of a royal blue that subsequently disappeared... the decorated letters on these folios are all by the English miniaturist). The folios from 185 onwards are characterised by the great iconographic freedom of the typological interpretation of both the Psalms and the New Testament prophecies.

The miniatures are painted on deep red grounds with gold filigrees or upon burnished gold grounds.
28 historiated initials (usually a king, someone at prayer, Christ or the Virgin and Child) upon a deep red ground with gold filigree.
190 decorated letters upon a golden ground (usually two at the beginning of each Psalm and two smaller ones at the start of each of the last prayers) with plant motifs.

Some paintings in the second part reveal the participation of several Catalan artists from a single workshop. The architectural and plant details and motifs, and the dress and colour range employed are very homogenous, although certain stylistic variations indicate the participation of different artists.
The unfinished manuscript was transferred to Catalonia shortly after being made. It opens with a long prayer in Latin copied in a Catalan hand (14th – 15th C). The part painted by Ferrer Bassa was, in all likelihood, commissioned by Peter the Ceremonious.

The codex subsequently enriched the treasures in Jean de Berry’s library according to an inventory of the duke’s books and finest possessions. It may have been amongst the 78 manuscripts sold by Charles Croy in 1511 to the first female bibliophile in history, Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands. When it arrived in Paris, the manuscript had a green velvet binding enabling it to be traced in Margaret of Austria’s different inventories (dated 1516 and 1523).

Along with most of Margaret of Austria’s books it was handed down to her niece, Mary of Hungary, Charles V’s sister. Following the death of the queen of Hungary it entered the general collection of the Burgundy library in Brussels. It is mentioned in the inventory drawn up 1615-1617 for Archduke Albert and Elizabeth. The manuscript left the Brussels library for Paris in 1796. The binding for Napoleon I took place in 1809.



Customer reviews


The Great Canterbury Psalter
(Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris



“Deslumbrante. Soberbio. Extraordinario Magnífico. Sobresaliente. Son algunos de los adjetivos que se me ocurren al tratar de describir el Salterio Triple Anglo- Catalán. Tengo unos cuarenta facsímiles en mi pequeña colección, y este Salterio es el número uno en el ranking. Es una maravilla.”

Pedro K. – United Kingdom



“Alors, le psautier: DIVIN, et l’autre aussi beau que le jour (comme dans la chanson: belle belle belle comme le jour...).”

Peter R. – Belgium




The Great Canterbury Psalter

The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
(Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

Description

This manuscript was illustrated in two different periods:
Canterbury, c. 1200: 184 pages. This first section follows the iconographic cycle of the Utrecht Psalter. It opens with what Leroquais called the Psalter prologue, consisting of 8 extraordinary, full-page miniatures, and continues with 52 fascinating miniatures measuring approximately 15 x 32 cm (width of the page) at the beginning of each Psalm. Most pages feature decorated initials.

Catalonia, c. 1340: from page 185 onwards we find 46 miniatures the width of the page and 15 to 25 cm high, surrounded by bright colours and divided into two or three bands each divided into two or three compartments. The few consisting of a single section appear on pages 328 and 340.
The miniatures on pages 144, 146, 160, 162, 164 and 172 are also by Ferrer Bassa, although these are of a rather different style and may have been painted by the Catalan artist upon a sketch that the English artist left unfinished (judging by the composition, the iconography based on the Utrecht Psalter, and the stylistic and technical factors including drapes and the constant use of a royal blue that subsequently disappeared... the decorated letters on these folios are all by the English miniaturist). The folios from 185 onwards are characterised by the great iconographic freedom of the typological interpretation of both the Psalms and the New Testament prophecies.

The miniatures are painted on deep red grounds with gold filigrees or upon burnished gold grounds.
28 historiated initials (usually a king, someone at prayer, Christ or the Virgin and Child) upon a deep red ground with gold filigree.
190 decorated letters upon a golden ground (usually two at the beginning of each Psalm and two smaller ones at the start of each of the last prayers) with plant motifs.

Some paintings in the second part reveal the participation of several Catalan artists from a single workshop. The architectural and plant details and motifs, and the dress and colour range employed are very homogenous, although certain stylistic variations indicate the participation of different artists.
The unfinished manuscript was transferred to Catalonia shortly after being made. It opens with a long prayer in Latin copied in a Catalan hand (14th – 15th C). The part painted by Ferrer Bassa was, in all likelihood, commissioned by Peter the Ceremonious.

The codex subsequently enriched the treasures in Jean de Berry’s library according to an inventory of the duke’s books and finest possessions. It may have been amongst the 78 manuscripts sold by Charles Croy in 1511 to the first female bibliophile in history, Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands. When it arrived in Paris, the manuscript had a green velvet binding enabling it to be traced in Margaret of Austria’s different inventories (dated 1516 and 1523).

Along with most of Margaret of Austria’s books it was handed down to her niece, Mary of Hungary, Charles V’s sister. Following the death of the queen of Hungary it entered the general collection of the Burgundy library in Brussels. It is mentioned in the inventory drawn up 1615-1617 for Archduke Albert and Elizabeth. The manuscript left the Brussels library for Paris in 1796. The binding for Napoleon I took place in 1809.

commentary volume

The Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter) Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

Contents:

From the editor to the reader

Brief description of the manuscript
Nigel Morgan (Honorary Professor of the History of Art, Cambridge University)

The Utrecht Psalter and its copies
Nigel Morgan

The Anglo-Catalan Psalter. The Canterbury part
Nigel Morgan

Ferrer Bassa and the Anglo-Catalan Psalter
Rosa Alcoy (University of Barcelona)

The texts of the Anglo-Catalan Psalter
Klaus Reinhardt (Trier University)

The illustrations of the Anglo-Catalan Psalter
Nigel Morgan
Rosa Alcoy

Bibliography

ISBN: 978-84-96400-08-5

Pictures

Details

Shelf mark: Lat. 8846.
Date: 13th/14th C.
Size: ± 480 x 332 mm.
356 pages and more than 140 fascinating miniatures embellished with gold.
190 ornamental letters upon gold ground with plants motifs.
Bound in brown leather.
Leather case.
Full-colour commentary volume (296 p.) by Nigel Morgan (Honorary Professor of the History of Art, Cambridge University), Rosa Alcoy (University of Barcelona) and Klaus Reinhardt (Trier University).
Unique and unrepeatable first edition, strictly limited  to 987 numbered and authenticated copies.
ISBN: 978-84-96400-09-2

Reviews

“Deslumbrante. Soberbio. Extraordinario Magnífico. Sobresaliente. Son algunos de los adjetivos que se me ocurren al tratar de describir el Salterio Triple Anglo- Catalán. Tengo unos cuarenta facsímiles en mi pequeña colección, y este Salterio es el número uno en el ranking. Es una maravilla.”

Pedro K. – United Kingdom

“Alors, le psautier: DIVIN, et l’autre aussi beau que le jour (comme dans la chanson: belle belle belle comme le jour...).”

Peter R. – Belgium

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