id: 114205 accession number: 1933.448.1 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1933.448.1 updated: 2022-06-23 09:00:12.892000 Bifolia with Scenes from the Life of Christ, 1230-1240. Germany, Lower Saxony (Diocese of Hildesheim), Braunschweig(?), 13th century. Tempera, and gold on vellum; sheet: 30.7 x 31 cm (12 1/16 x 12 3/16 in.); framed: 48.3 x 63.5 cm (19 x 25 in.); overall: 30.7 x 45.2 cm (12 1/16 x 17 13/16 in.); matted: 40.6 x 55.9 cm (16 x 22 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1933.448.1 title: Bifolia with Scenes from the Life of Christ title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1230-1240 creation date earliest: 1230 creation date latest: 1240 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Germany, Lower Saxony (Diocese of Hildesheim), Braunschweig(?), 13th century technique: tempera, and gold on vellum department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations type: Manuscript find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Sheet: 30.7 x 31 cm (12 1/16 x 12 3/16 in.); Framed: 48.3 x 63.5 cm (19 x 25 in.); Overall: 30.7 x 45.2 cm (12 1/16 x 17 13/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 55.9 cm (16 x 22 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Object in Focus: Pair of Bifolia from a Psalter with Scenes from the Life of Christ opening date: 2001-01-09T00:00:00 Object in Focus: Pair of Bifolia from a Psalter with Scenes from the Life of Christ. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 9-February 18, 2001). title: Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2007-05-10T00:00:00 Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009). title: Visions of the Divine: Textiles and Manuscripts from Medieval Germany (Manuscript and Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115 opening date: 2016-12-14T05:00:00 Visions of the Divine: Textiles and Manuscripts from Medieval Germany (Manuscript and Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 14, 2016-December 4, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, "Medieval Arts" February 17-March 24, 1940; no. 22. pl. XIX.
Cincinnati, The Taft Museum, "Medieval Art Exhibition from XII to XV Centuries" December, 1948-January 1949.
Winnepeg, Winnepeg Art Gallery, "Exhibition of Medieval Art" January 3-28, 1952.
Buffalo, Albright-Knox Gallery, Religious Art" Decmber 1965-January 10, 1966.
Domplatz, Germany, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte (Castle Corvey), "Die Kunst und Kultur und der Weser in der Zeit von 800 bis 1600" May 15th-Septermber 15, 1966
Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; January 9 - February 18, 2001. "Object in Focus: Pair of Bifolia from a Psalter with Scenes from the Life of Christ."
Bavarian Nationalmuseum, Munich (5/10/2007 - 9/16/2007), the J. Paul Getty Musuem, Los Angeles (10/30/2007 - 1/20/2008) and Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2/13/2009 - 6/7/2009): "Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art" --- PROVENANCE Convent Kamnade date: footnotes: citations: Westphalian Castle Library date: 1777 footnotes: citations: Baron Münchhausen, Münster in Westphalia date: footnotes: citations: Convent Kamnade; Westphalian Castle Library (1777); Baron Münchhausen, Münster in Westphalia date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: A sheet of vellum (animal skin) folded down the center to create two leaves, or folios, is called a bifolium (plural: bifolia). This pair of bifolia originally were to have been inserted one inside the other, forming part of a large psalter, or book of the psalms. The small paintings, called miniatures, decorating each leaf are subdivided into four small panels and illustrate the life of Christ. This particular format, along with the style of decoration, tells us that the psalter was made in North Germany, in the Diocese of Hildesheim. In northern Europe, after 1050, a tradition emerged of illustrating psalters with scenes of the life of David (the author of the Psalms) and the life of Christ. This juxtaposition implied a shared ancestry, since Christ was a descendant of the House of David. In the parent volume these miniatures may have been accompanied by a David cycle. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 148-149, no. 51 url: Couzin, Robert. Right and Left in Early Christian and Medieval Art. Boston: Brill, 2021. page number: Mentioned; p. 214, n. 11. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.448.1/1933.448.1_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.448.1/1933.448.1_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.448.1/1933.448.1_full.tif