Skip to main content

Biblia figurata

Image attached to MS 11

An image of

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

About this image

Image data

  • Illuminated Manuscript. Biblia Figurata/Bible. Parchment, iii modern paper flyleaves + 83 fols. + iii modern paper flyleaves, 158 x 109 (142 x 110) mm, ruled in black ink. 19th Century binding, gold tooled stiff-board vellum, leather tabs at beginning of biblical books. Parchment, ink, height, page, 158 mm, width, page, 109 mm, height, text, 142 mm, width, text, 110 mm, circa 1490-1500. Production place: Germany. CONTENTS: fols. 1r-2r Three short passages from the works of Ovid (Ex Ponto, III, 1, 157-8; Tristia, II, 31-2; Ex Ponto, III-IV, 79-82) and extracts from a letter of St Jerome, Epistula Ieronymi ad Paulinum de omnibus divinae historiae libris; fols. 2v - 82r Abridged text of each book of the Latin bible, excluding 2 Esdras. DECORATION: 1343 pen and ink drawings coloured in green, red, blue and yellow, and summarizing in a mnemonic fashion the contents of biblical books from Gn to Apc, chapter by chapter. The opening words of each chapter are written in red above the corresponding image. The drawings, normally 10 per page, are arranged mostly in four rows forming an hour-glass or tower shape consisting of three rectangular compartments in the top row (a, b, c), two circular ones in the second row, two rectangular compartments in the third row, and three in the fourth. The drawings illustrate a key word or phrase in the chapter or a narrative detail. An almost contemporary hand has written explanations in Latin within the compartments from Gn 1 to Sam 17, and more sparsely after that.
  • Copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum
  • Image height: 1365 pixels
  • Image width: 1024 pixels
  • Filesize: 212.18kB

Colours in this image

rgb(9,8,8), rgb(214,207,186), rgb(138,74,56), rgb(147,115,70), rgb(122,132,124), rgb(178,153,110), rgb(162,169,157), rgb(39,155,153), rgb(153,147,143), rgb(237,238,237), rgb(74,78,132)

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-2261450763 Accessed: 2024-03-28 18:58:40

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-2261450763 |title= |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-28 18:58:40|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/images/media-2754962570

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/588/594/large_MS_11_f35r_mas.jpg"
        alt="Biblia figurata"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info"></figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...