Marquette Bible, vol. 2

Unknown

about 1270

Tempera colors, black ink, and gold leaf, Tempera Colors

J. Paul Getty Museum

A page from an illuminated manuscript features columns of text in Latin, with a small historiated initial and decorative border on the left. The text is in black ink with red and blue rubrication. Monks or nuns likely read from this large Bible during mealtimes in the refectory of a monastery. Written and illuminated around 1270 by a team of lay artisans from the active commercial centers along the French-Flemish border, the surviving portions indicate that at least six different artists worked on the initials, though scholars believe the original team responsible for the seven-volume Bible was even larger. The manuscript's size allowed the assembled monks or nuns to see and appreciate its decorative details from a distance. Historiated initials, common in thirteenth-century Bibles, appear at the beginning of each biblical bo