Getty Museum
Decorated Initial E
Creator
Master of the Ingeborg PsalterFrench Illuminator · 1195–1210
All works by this person →Scholars named the Master of the Ingeborg Psalter for a manuscript of the psalms he illuminated, together with another painter, for Queen Ingeborg of France. In the years around 1200, he was active in northeastern France. The style of the Master of the Ingeborg Psalter represents a turning point in the history of European painting, when artists left behind abstract and highly stylized forms in fav
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- after 1205
- Medium
- Tempera colors and gold leaf
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Manuscripts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Decorated with with curling stems, leaves, and fantastic animals, the initial *E* introducing Psalm 80 is the only one of the nine painted initials in this French Gothic psalter that does not contain a figural scene. The complex leaf form at the center, which partially curls around the central horizontal of the letter, dwarfs the birds and beasts. Through a brilliant design, the illuminator arranged the initial's decorative elements into a bold, centralized composition in a palette of gold, saturated blue, and rusty red.
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