Gospel Book with Evangelist Portraits (c. 1480): Art, History and Details

Gospel Book with Evangelist Portraits (c. 1480) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master of the House-Book (German, c. 1470–1500).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The four gospels are preceded by a full-page portrait miniature of the appropriate evangelist. Per tradition, they are represented as contemporary scribes surrounded by all the tools of their trade—ink pots, quill pens, and penknives. The anonymous illuminator of these miniatures, called the Hausbuch Master, is known primarily for an album of lively drawings as well as some 90 copper engravings now in Amsterdam. He was also apparently a panel painter of some distinction. The skillful pen work, tracery, and vine scrolls, as well as the large initials, are the work of other artists. The binding is original.

Object facts

• Title: Gospel Book with Evangelist Portraits
• Date: c. 1480
• Creator attribution: Master of the House-Book (German, c. 1470–1500)
• Culture: Germany, Middle Rhine
• Type: Bound Volume
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; original blind stamped leather binding
• Dimensions: Codex: 23.7 x 18.4 x 5.4 cm (9 5/16 x 7 1/4 x 2 1/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1952.465

A detail from the museum

The Hausbuch Master, also a printmaker, is thought to be the first artist to use a form of engraving known as drypoint.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Stange, Alfred. Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. Berlin: Deutscher Kunst, 1955.
• William M. Milliken, "An Illuminated Manuscript by the Master of the Hausbuch" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (June 1953)
• Art Digest. New York: Art Digest Inc, July 1953.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.