Cleveland Museum of Art

Fragment from a Lectern Bible: Initial E[t fecit Josias] with Josiah Aspersing the Altar

Master Honoré

Date

c. 1300

Medium

ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Culture

France, Paris

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This initial comes from a large bible (about 23 inches high) and introduces the opening text of the Book of Esdras: Et fecit Josias in Jerosolymis Domino (When Josiah celebrated the Passover festival in Jerusalem to his Lord). The artist, a close follower of Master Honoré at Paris, set his figure against a diapered ground of alternating gold and blue diamonds with fleur-de-lys. Instead of portraying Josiah as a Jew, however, the artist abandoned historical perspective and painted him as a Christian priest sprinkling the altar with holy water in preparation for the Mass.

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