Читать книгу Memory of the World: The treasures that record our history from 1700 BC to the present day - UNESCO - Страница 47
ОглавлениеInscribed 2011
What is it
A richly illuminated Latin Bible in three volumes, made in 1255 for Hamburg Cathedral.
Why was it inscribed
The Hamburg Bible is the work of a group of highly talented clerical craftsmen. The eighty-nine illuminated initial letters in the three volumes illustrate book themes and are unique both as expressions of medieval art and as a source of information on the craft and history of the medieval book.
Where is it
Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Hamburg Bible is the most important document for the study of book production and book art in Europe in the 13th century. Not simply a monument of medieval bookmaking, the manuscript is a celebration by its creators of the craft of book production, and a unique expression of the medieval fascination with books.
The manuscript is in three volumes of 242, 230 and 218 leaves respectively, and starts with a full-page initial depicting the Creation at the start of Genesis, to finish with the final Book of the Apocalypse or Revelation. Together the three volumes weigh almost 40 kg.
The Bible was the work of a scribe named Karolus, working at the request of Bertoldus, dean of the Chapter of Hamburg; both are named in a dedication in all three volumes. However, the artist responsible for the eighty-nine illuminated letters is not named. The only clue to his identity is the painting of an illustrator at his desk at the letter A, starting the Book of the Apocalypse.
In addition to its initial letters decorated with Biblical scenes, the Hamburg Bible also contains a sequence illustrating how medieval books were produced, from the production and preparation of parchment to the various steps in the writing process and the painter’s work with illumination.
Although the illustration of a monk writing is popular in medieval books, depictions of other parts of the manuscript production process are rare. The sequence in the Hamburg Bible illustrates the process in more detail and with greater artistic skill than any other medieval book. Its images are commonly used to illustrate medieval bookmaking.
The nineteen scenes depicting the creation of the book are spread through all three volumes, although most are gathered in volume three. Most depict either St Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, and St Paul; St Timothy, St Peter and the four evangelists also feature.
The three volumes belonged to Hamburg Cathedral until 1784, when they were bought at auction by the Royal Library in Copenhagen.
