The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 15, 2024

Bifolia with Scenes from the Life of Christ

Bifolia with Scenes from the Life of Christ

1230–1240
(Diocese of Hildesheim), Braunschweig(?)
tempera, and gold on vellum
Sheet: 30.7 x 31 cm (12 1/16 x 12 3/16 in.); Framed: 48.3 x 63.5 cm (19 x 25 in.); Overall: 30.7 x 45.2 cm (12 1/16 x 17 13/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 55.9 cm (16 x 22 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1933.448.1
Location: not on view

Description

A sheet of vellum (animal skin) folded down the center to create two leaves, or folios, is called a bifolium (plural: bifolia). This pair of bifolia originally were to have been inserted one inside the other, forming part of a large psalter, or book of the psalms. The small paintings, called miniatures, decorating each leaf are subdivided into four small panels and illustrate the life of Christ. This particular format, along with the style of decoration, tells us that the psalter was made in North Germany, in the Diocese of Hildesheim. In northern Europe, after 1050, a tradition emerged of illustrating psalters with scenes of the life of David (the author of the Psalms) and the life of Christ. This juxtaposition implied a shared ancestry, since Christ was a descendant of the House of David. In the parent volume these miniatures may have been accompanied by a David cycle.
  • Convent Kamnade
    1777
    Westphalian Castle Library
    Baron Münchhausen, Münster in Westphalia
    Convent Kamnade; Westphalian Castle Library (1777); Baron Münchhausen, Münster in Westphalia
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 148-149, no. 51
    Couzin, Robert. Right and Left in Early Christian and Medieval Art. Boston: Brill, 2021. Mentioned; p. 214, n. 11.
  • Visions of the Divine: Textiles and Manuscripts from Medieval Germany (Manuscript and Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 14, 2016-December 4, 2017).
    Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Object in Focus: Pair of Bifolia from a Psalter with Scenes from the Life of Christ. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 9-February 18, 2001).
    Domplatz, Germany, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte (Castle Corvey), "Die Kunst und Kultur und der Weser in der Zeit von 800 bis 1600" May 15th-Septermber 15, 1966
    Buffalo, Albright-Knox Gallery, Religious Art" Decmber 1965-January 10, 1966.
    Winnepeg, Winnepeg Art Gallery, "Exhibition of Medieval Art" January 3-28, 1952.
    Cincinnati, The Taft Museum, "Medieval Art Exhibition from XII to XV Centuries" December, 1948-January 1949.
    Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, "Medieval Arts" February 17-March 24, 1940; no. 22. pl. XIX.
  • {{cite web|title=Bifolia with Scenes from the Life of Christ|url=false|author=|year=1230–1240|access-date=15 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1933.448.1