The St. Albans psalter : painting and prayer in medieval England
Kristen M. Collins (Author), Peter Kidd (Author), Nancy Turner (Author), J. Paul Getty Museum
The St. Albans Psalter is one of the most important, famous, and puzzling books produced in twelfth-century England. It was probably created between 1120 and 1140 at St. Albans Abbey, located on the site where Alban, England's first saint, was martyred. The manuscript's powerfully drawn figures and saturated colors are distinct from those in previous Anglo-Saxon painting and signal the arrival of the Romanesque style of illumination in England. Although most twelfth-century prayer books were not illustrated, the St. Albans Psalter includes more than 40 fullpage illuminations and over 200 historiated initials. Decorated with gold and precious colors, the psalter offers a display unparalleled by any other English manuscript to survive from the period. In 2007 the St. Albans Psalter was removed from its binding and in 2012 the disbound leaves traveled to the J. Paul Getty Museum.0Exhibition: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA (20.09.2013-02.02.2014)
Exhibition catalogues
104 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 28 cm
9781606061459, 1606061453
830124447
Foreword / Timothy Potts
Pictures and the devotional imagination in the St. Albans psalter / Kristen Collins
Materiality and collaborative enterprise in the making of the St. Albans psalter / Peter Kidd and Nancy K. Turner
Appendix 1, Physical description of the St. Albans Psalter
Appendix 2, Glossary
"This publication is issued in conjunction with the exhibition 'Canterbury and St. Albans: Treasures from Church and Cloister' on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, from September 20, 2013, to February 2, 2014"--Colophon
"The St. Albans Psalter is among the most important, famous, and puzzling books produced in twelfth-century England. It was probably created between 1120 and 1140 at St. Albans Abbey, located on the site where Alban, England's first saint, was martyred. The manuscript's powerfully drawn figures and saturated colors are distinct from those in previous Anglo-Saxon painting and signal the arrival of the Romanesque style of illumination in England. Although most twelfth-century prayer books were not illustrated, the St. Albans Psalter includes more than 40 fullpage illuminations and over 200 historiated initials. Decorated with gold and precious colors, the psalter offers a display unparalleled by any other English manuscript to survive from the period. In 2006 the St. Albans Psalter was removed from its binding, and in 2012 the disbound leaves traveled to the Getty Museum, where scholars, conservators, and scientists conducted a close examination. New evidence revealed here for the first time challenges established beliefs about this richly illuminated manuscript."--Publisher description