“Irish and Hiberno-Saxon Art”: The Vespasian Psalter

To conclude the class, we shifted our attention to southern England to look at two manuscripts that demonstrate exposure to and the selective adaptation of Hiberno-Saxon stylistic features.  First, we looked at the Vespasian Psalter (British Library, Cotton MS Vespasian A.i). 

 

On folio 30v, we encountered our second author portrait of David, the only full-page miniature in the manuscript.  He holds the same lyre as in the Durham Cassiodorus, but is accompanied by two scribes, four musicians, and two dancers.  The scribe to the left writes on a scroll, while the scribe to the right writes on a diptych.  The ornamental pattern in the arch compares well with ornament in the Lindisfarne Gospels, but the composition itself compares best with the portrait of David in the ninth-century Byzantine Khludov Psalter. 

 

The historiated initials merit extended consideration.  On the recto facing the author portrait of David, the first letter of Psalm 26, D, frames a depiction of David and Jonathan clasping hands, an illustration of 1 Samuel 23.16-18.

 

And on folio 53r, the first letter of Psalm 52 contains an illustration of David rescuing a lamb from a lion (1 Samuel 17.34-35).

 

The relating of the scene represented within each initial to the text of the psalm provides ample material for analysis.  The question of the function of the historiated initial also prompts valuable discussion.

 

The British Library provides an image of facing Folios 30v-31r.  Wikimedia has a larger image of Folio 30v alone.  Folio 53r may be found in the facsimile published by David Wright.