Medieval Bible Travels to NYC

Beginning tomorrow, December 9, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will exhibit the Winchester Bible, an illuminated medieval manuscript commissioned by the Bishop of Winchester around 1200. Consisting of four large volumes, the Winchester Bible was written over three decades by a single scribe with at least six different illuminators applying gold and other pigments to the parchment. It is Winchester Cathedral's greatest treasure. Due to renovations there, two of the Bible's four volumes have been allowed to travel to the U.S. for the first time. Joined by an elaborately illustrated double-sided frontispiece--long separated from the Bible and owned by the Morgan Library & Museum--as well as works of medieval sculpture, stained glass, and other examples of manuscript illumination from the Met's own collections, the Bible will remain on view for three months. The museum will also host related gallery talks and tours, as well as a December 14 studio workshop called "From Pigment to Page: Modern Manuscripts with Medieval Techniques." A new book, The Winchester Bible: The First 850 Years, written by Canon Chancellor Roland Reim and published by the Winchester Cathedral Trust, will be available for purchase.

Image:
Opening for the Book of Jeremiah (detail) ??Winchester Bible, fol. 148r??Tempera and gold on parchment??Winchester Cathedral Priory of St. Swithun, ca. 1150-80 Lent by the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral © The Chapter of Winchester Cathedral