Getty Museum

The Vision of the Throne of God and the Twenty-Four Elders

Date

about 1255–1260

Medium

Tempera colors, gold leaf, colored washes, pen and ink

Culture

English

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

On the left, Saint John peers through a tiny window in the frame into the miniature. The peephole serves as a means of illustrating the visionary character of the scene within the miniature. Here John sees Christ on a throne within a rainbow mandorla. Closely following the visionary text of the Apocalypse (4:1-11), the illuminator included the four living beasts, which support the mandorla, and the twenty-four elders. The elders sit on thrones around Christ, crowned, "clothed in white garments," and playing a variety of stringed instruments. Behind Christ are seven hanging lamps representing the "seven spirits of the Lord."

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