Early Medieval Bible Illumination and the Ashburnham Pentateuch

This book focuses on the Ashburnham Pentateuch, an early medieval illuminated manuscript whose pictures are among the earliest surviving biblical illustrations.

Dorothy Verkerk (Author)

9781107402003, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 March 2011

272 pages, 36 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.3 cm, 0.49 kg

'… narrated in great detail …' Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte

This book focuses on the Ashburnham Pentateuch, an early medieval illuminated manuscript of the Old Testament whose pictures are among the earliest surviving and most extensive biblical illustrations. Dorothy Verkerk shows how the lively and complex illustrations of Genesis and Exodus, which incorporate references to contemporary life, were used to explain important church teachings. She provides a key to understanding the relationship between the text and pictures. Verkerk also argues that the manuscript was created in Italy, thereby solving a mystery that has baffled scholars for the last century and demonstrating that early medieval Italian artists were capable of complex innovations in the field of the visual arts.

1. A painted primer
2. Script, text, illuminations, provenance
3. Principal narratives
4. The right order of life
5. The Italian origin considered
6. An Italian manuscript
7. A Roman clergy.

Subject Areas: Religion: general [HRA], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]