Manuscript Illumination with David in Prayer in an Initial M, from a Psalter

Girolamo dai Libri

1501–2 · Tempera, ink, and gold on parchment · Medieval Art

Like the singing monks in Girolamo dai Libri's miniature executed for the same psalter (displayed nearby), David appears here in prayer with his mouth open and his gaze turned heavenward. In many images of David, God the Father appears above him as the object of his inspiration. Like the monks, he appears to look beyond the frame of the initial, as if he were reading the text of the psalter.

Artist: Girolamo dai Libri
Date: 1501–2
Medium: Tempera, ink, and gold on parchment
Culture: Italian
Department: Medieval Art
Credit line: Rogers Fund, 1912

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