Cleveland Museum of Art

Leaf from a Lectionary with St. Luke

Date

1057–1063

Medium

ink, tempera and gold on vellum

Culture

Byzantium, Constantinople

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

These leaves are from a lectionary (a book of gospel readings used in church services) that was presented to the Holy Trinity Monastery at Chalke in Constantinople by the Empress Katherine Komnene in 1063. The tools of the scribe’s trade are laid out before the evangelists: a stylus (a pointed tool for writing, drawing, and engraving), a pair of dividers (a device resembling a compass, used for dividing lines and transferring measurements), pens, a knife, a burnisher (polishing tool), and inkpots. Portraits of the authors of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—appear frequently in gospel books throughout the Christian world. Understood to be eyewitnesses to the texts they wrote, their presence in these books served to “authenticate” the gospels. Commissioning a lectionary was a way for patrons to show their devotion to a particular church.

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