Description
This leaf originally formed the title page of a four-volume Moralia (Commentary on the Book of Job) by Gregory the Great, pope and father of the Latin Church. The books still survive in the library of the Monastery of Engelberg, near Lucerne. Both the copying and illumination of the books are attributed to the hand of Engelberg's greatest abbot, Frowin, who ruled from 1143 to 1178. Frowin seemed to be responsible, either as a writer, illuminator, or donor, for nearly 30 manuscripts still preserved at that monastery.
Provenance
André Hachette, Paris; Monastery Library, Engelberg, Switzerland; [Heinrich Eisemann, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art] (-1955); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1955-)
Title Page of St. Gregory's "Moralia": Job Visited by His Three Friends (above) and Gregory the Great and His Deacon Peter (below)
Abbot Frowinc. 1143–1178
Accession Number
1955.74
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
Sheet: 27.3 x 19 cm (10 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.); Framed: 52.4 x 39.7 cm (20 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.); Matted: 48.9 x 36.2 cm (19 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.)
Classification
Manuscript
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund