Cleveland Museum of Art

Leaf from a Psalter: Initial D: David in Prayer before an Altar and Christ in a Cloud (2 of 2 Excised Leaves)

Date

c. 1270–1280

Medium

ink, tempera and gold on vellum

Culture

England, Oxford (?), 13th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

An impressive eight-line initial represents a kneeling David praying before an altar amid stylized topiaries and set against a burnished gold ground. The text introduces Psalm 101: Domine exaudi orationem meam (Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my crying come unto thee). Facial types for the figures are rather coarse, with hard lines and sharp expressions and very schematic drawing of the hair and poses are rigid and angular. Hard drapery patterns emphasize the triangular folds and the marginal outgrowth of the initial D terminates as a standing bird. Stylistically, these leaves relate to English work of about 1275–1300, possibly from the vicinity of Oxford.

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