Single Leaf Excised from a Choir Psalter: Initial E[xultate Deo] with King David Playing the Lute (Psalm 80) (c. 1408): Art, History and Details

Single Leaf Excised from a Choir Psalter: Initial E[xultate Deo] with King David Playing the Lute (Psalm 80) (c. 1408) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This leaf once formed part of a deluxe choir psalter produced for the Franciscan convent of Bologna (founded 1229). The initial E with a portrait of King David illustrates the introduction to Psalm 80: Exultate Deo (Rejoice to God). King David, as the author of the Psalms, is prominently illustrated in psalter initials. An abundant spray of colorful acanthus leaves with clambering Franciscan friars provides decoration for the lower left margins and confirmation that it was made for Franciscan use.

Object facts

• Title: Single Leaf Excised from a Choir Psalter: Initial E[xultate Deo] with King David Playing the Lute (Psalm 80)
• Date: c. 1408
• Culture: Italy, Bologna
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Sheet: 56.5 x 41.9 cm (22 1/4 x 16 1/2 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1953.641

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Winter, Patrick M. de. “Bolognese Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 8 (October 1983): 314–351.

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.