Marquette Bible, vol. 3

Unknown

about 1270

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

J. Paul Getty Museum

A manuscript page with two columns of text and a decorated initial letter. The text is in Latin, with red and blue illuminated letters. 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