Leaf Excised from a Psalter: The Annunciation (c. 1325–50): Art, History and Details

Leaf Excised from a Psalter: The Annunciation (c. 1325–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This miniature of the Annunciation to Mary was taken from a psalter containing the 150 sacred songs or hymns from the Book of Psalms found in the Bible. Psalters were among the most popular books of the Middle Ages, used for daily church services in monasteries and for private devotion. The leaf from this liturgical manuscript probably came from England and was made around the time of the Black Death. In the past, manuscripts were often disassembled by owners and dealers to sell the single miniatures for a larger profit. Thus, the original cannot be reconstructed today.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf Excised from a Psalter: The Annunciation
• Date: c. 1325–50
• Culture: England
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Sheet: 15.8 x 11.2 cm (6 1/4 x 4 7/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1952.230

A detail from the museum

When the previous owner first saw this leaf he was struck by the expression on the Virgin's face; according to him, "I could not resist the purchase of the page."

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Art ancien S.A. Manuscripts from the Carolingian Period to the Sixteenth Century. Fine Early Printed Books. Catalogue Nr. 37. [Bern.]: [Stämpfli & cie], 1940.
• "Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1952." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 40, no. 6 (1953).
• Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Aspects of Late Mediaeval Art; The Mediaeval Conference, the Ohio State University. 1958.

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.