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Walters Ms. W.10, Helmarshausen PsalterBrowse images (Browse images in a new window) | TEI in XML format
Manuscript
Helmarshausen Psalter
Abstract
This small volume of psalms was created for the private use of a noble lady, probably a relative of Duke Henry the Lion (1129-1195). It was made at Helmarshausen, the same monastery that produced the sumptuous Gospels of Henry the Lion, which sold at auction in 1983 for nearly 12 million dollars, making it the most expensive art object sold to that point. This psalter is much smaller and less elaborate than the Gospels, with only three miniatures, but the quality is very high. The identity of the manuscriptâs owner, the lady pictured on fol. 6v, has been the subject of much debate. Scholars have conjectured that she is Gertrud, Henryâs daughter, Clementia, his first wife, or Matilda, his second wife. Because the portrait bears no inscription, and because the facing page, which may have shown the ladyâs patron saint, is missing, the question must remain open.
Date
Second half of the 12th century CE
Origin
Helmarshausen, Germany
Scribe
Supplied name: Herimann
Note: Herimann was the same monk responsible for the Gospels of Henry the Lion
Language:
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Support material
Parchment
Well-prepared, medium-weight parchment
Extent
Foliation: i+125+i
First and last pages are parchment and have been foliated but are not original to the manuscript and are therefore added flyleaves; modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos
Collation
Formula: Undetermined due to the fragile nature of the manuscript
Comments:
Dimensions
6.5 cm wide by 11.5 cm high
Written surface
4.0 cm wide by 9.2 cm high
Layout
Contents:
fols. 1r - 125v:Decoration:
fol. 6v:
The lady pictured is most likely a relative of Duke Henry the Lion, perhaps one of his wives, Clementia von Zährigen or Matilda, or his daughter Gertrud.
fol. 7r:
fol. 41v:
fol. 42r:
fol. 77v:
fol. 78r:
fol. 88v:
Binding
The binding is not original.
Red velvet (probably added by Gruel) over sixteenth- or seventeenth-century beech boards; upper and outer margins clipped; edges gilt and inscribed with a pattern of stars within arches
Provenance
Created at the monastery of Helmarshausen in Westphalia, second half of twelfth century, by Herimann for a female relative of Henry the Lion
Petrus Grillinger, Canon of Salzburg, early fifteenth century; inscription on fol. 126v reads "Hic liber fuit domini petri Grillinger Magistri Kamere Curie Salzbur[gensis]"
Gruel and Engelmann collection, late nineteenth or early twentieth century; bookplate on upper pastedown, inscribed "136"
Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase, probably from Gruel
Acquisition
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
Bibliography
Walters Art Gallery. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949, p. 11, no. 24.
Krüger, Ekkehard. Die Schreib- und Malwerkstatt der Abtei Helmarshausen bis in die Zeit Heingrichs des Löwen. Darmstadt: Hessischen Historischen Kommission und der Historischen Kommission für Hessen und Waldeck, 1972, pp. 279-280, 696-713, figs. 66-69.
Jansen, Franz. Die Helmarshausener Buchmalerei zur Zeit Heinrichs des Löwen. Hildesheim and Leipzig: August Lax, 1933, pp. 149-150.
Hoffmann, Hartmut. Bücher and Urkunden aus Helmarshausen und Corvey. Hannover: Hahn, 1992, pp. 19-20.
Korzus, Bernard. Kunst und Kultur im Weserraum, 800-1600; Ausstellung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. Münster in Westfalen: Aschendorff, 1966, pp. 495-496, no. 184.
Bagnoli, Martina. The Medieval World. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2011, p. 165, fig. 148.
Randall, Lilian M.C. Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature: Highlights from the Collection of the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1984.
Luckhardt, Jochen, and Franz Niehoff, eds. Heinrich der Löwe und seine Zeit: Herrschaft und Repräsentation der Welfen 1125-1235: Katalog der Ausstellung Braunschweig 1995. 3 vols. Munich: Hirmer, 1995, pp. 165, 167, no. D12.
Gosebruch, Martin. "'Labor est Herimanni': zum Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen." Abhandlungen der Braunschweigischen Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft 35 (1983).
De Ricci, S. and W.J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. 2 vols. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 768, no. 73.
Klemm, Elisabeth. Das Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen. Frankfurt, 1989. 69-72.
Swarzenski, Hanns. "Recent Literature, Chiefly Periodical, in Medieval Minor Arts." Art Bulletin 24 (1942): pp. 287-304, at p. 296.
Goldschmidt, Adolph. "A German Psalter of the Twelfth Century Written in Helmarshausen." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 1 (1938): pp. 18-23, figs. 1-7.
Contributors
Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Copy editor: Dibble, Charles
Conservators: Evers, Jennifer; Quandt, Abigail
Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Emery, Doug; Hamburger, Jeffrey; Joyal, Stephanie; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.
Publisher
The Walters Art Museum
License
Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.
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