Adjoining Leaves from a Book of Hours: Penitential Psalms and King David in Prayer (2 of 3 Excised Leaves)

Description

These two adjoining leaves begin the penitential psalms, or holy poems recited to ask for forgiveness. An elderly King David is depicted kneeling in prayer after having committed great sins. He has cast his harp and hat to the ground as an expression of humility and looks up to the sky to ask forgiveness. The text of Psalm 6 begins with the large decorated initial D and reads, “Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me: neque in ira tua corripias me,” or “O Lord rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath.”

Provenance

Baron Jerome Pichon, Paris, France (1812-1896); [Richard Day, London, England (no. 69 only)]; [Sam Fogg, London, England]; [Bruce Ferrini, Akron, OH, sold to Jeanne Miles Blackburn]; Jeanne Miles Blackburn, Maitland, FL, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (-2003); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2003-)

Adjoining Leaves from a Book of Hours: Penitential Psalms and King David in Prayer (2 of 3 Excised Leaves)

Noël Bellemare

c. 1530–35

Accession Number

2003.174

Medium

ink, tempera, and liquid gold on vellum

Dimensions

Each leaf: 11.2 x 6.4 cm (4 7/16 x 2 1/2 in.)

Classification

Manuscript

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection