Gradual of King Matthias folio 58r

Gradual of King Matthias

folio 58r

King David Praying to Christ

‘E’ Initial-the 6th Sunday post Easter,

King David Praying to Christ, Budapest, National Széchényi Library. Fol. 58r

Probably made in Buda or Vienna, c.1476-1490

Parchment, II, Cod. lat. 424, fol. 58r

Text block measures 385×237 mm, miniature 155x165 mm.

Illuminators: probably two of them, one North Italian, and one Flemish.

Script: Gothic Textura Rotunda written in five rows. Black square notation on a red staves of four horizontal line and 5 lines each of music and text. The feast day is named in the rubric, and the main lyric, the beginning of Psalm 26:7-9, is written in black ink.

Layout: The manuscript consists of 25 quires, each of which is 8 folios, with a separate bound bifolio at the end of the manuscript. One folio is missing, and later it was restored.

Ruling: Two vertical red lines mark each margin, extending the full height of the page. The miniature is framed by a brown floral area, bordered by black filled lines, to which the red music staves are attached. On folio 58r, three lozenge symbols adorn the first and second staves, and a C clef is found in the 3rd, 4th and 5th staves.

Budapest, National Széchényi Library, Department of Manuscripts  

 Folio 58recto of the Matthias Gradual contains a lavish miniature initial “E” in majuscule blue, surrounding an image of a kneeling King David praying to Jesus Christ; the king is offering his heart in front of a lectern on top of which is an open gilded book. Christ appears in human form with halo in splash rays above his head, and strikingly seems to interact with King David by making eye contact and stretching out his left arm. The manuscript’s staves display music for the choir’s responsorial chants in the Mass. The liturgical instruction written in red ink cites the Mass for the 6th Sunday after Easter – or as the rubric says, the Sunday within an octave of Ascension. After some words which continue from the previous page, the lyric on 58r is from Psalm 26:7-9, and continues on 58 verso.

 [salute domine qui ascendit super c(a)elos c(a)elorum adorientem allelulia –] audi domine uocem meam qua cla(mavi)….. which continues on verso 58r: … (mavi) ad te allelula tibi dixit cor meum que sum vultum tuum vultum tuum domine requiram ne avertas faciem tu(am)…

 (Lord listen for my deep sigh with which l shout to You! My heart calls you, my eyes seek you.  I look for your face Lord, don't turn it away from me!)

The illumination depicts multiple scenes with various perspectives and sophisticated details. This includes different styles of architecture. The palace interior containing King David and Christ is ornamented in gold, blue, green, beige, and also rich gold furnishings and some red fabric. Beyond stretches a landscape of trees, mountains, and water. Gothic-style semi-circular stained glass windows may be found behind the gilded carved throne, and Flemish floor tiles.  Here Christ’s draped gown, entirely in blue, is depicted in Flemish style. Possibly the landscape in the right background might contain Jerusalem's ancient city. The Tower of David on the left is out of proportion; the illuminator of the Gradual demonstrated little or no grasp of perspective in this manuscript. In the foreground, sectioning, has been employed. The curved wall connects the tower and an open gate on the right beyond which is a well and blue-roofed temple.

There is considerable dispute about the origin of this manuscript. It was first identified as created in France by Elemer Varju, and others subsequently suggested either a Flemish provenance or production in Buda by a Flemish illuminator. In 1984 Barbara A. Shailor linked the Cité de Dieu from Turin and a two-volume Bible historiale from New Haven. Sandra Hindman and Akiko Komada proposed that these two manuscripts are closely related to the Gradual. While the 2016 examination by Hungarian medievalist Eszter Nagy agrees with Komada that the Master of the Turin Augustine, as the creator of these two codices is designated, lived around Tournai or Lille. Nagy finds many stylistic similarities between the Turin and New Haven manuscripts, but some differences with the Hungarian book, and suggests that the latter came from the same workshop as the output of the Master of the Turin Augustine.  The proposal that an apprentice of the Master of the Turin Augustine is responsible for the Gradual is reasonable and worthy of further investigation, but certainly not yet established.

The script used closely resembles that in a group of Lombard choir books, so it is likely the work of a Northern Italian scribe. It seems that the first illustrator, from Italy, certainly passed through Buda. His work was completed by a Flemish illuminator who spent time in Vienna.  Thus, the Gradual may have been created in Buda or in Vienna, which between 1485 and 1490 belonged to King Matthias.  

The Gradual originally belonged to the collection of the Bibliotheca Corviniana, which was destroyed.  The first volume has been lost; the second volume is displayed in the National Széchényi Library, Budapest, Hungary.,

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PROVENANCE:  the Bibliotheca Corviniana, probably the Chapel of Buda Castle; catalogue produced by Giovanni Benedetto Gentilotti in 1721, when it was in the Hofbibliothek in Vienna. Rebound in 1755, the manuscript was transferred in 1933 to the library of the Hungarian National Museum, predecessor to the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary.

EXHIBITED: probably 1634 Duke of Wurttemberg in 1634, The Bibliotheca Corviniana, Budapest, National Széchényi Library, Department of Manuscripts, Hungary.

LITERATURE: Berkovits 1942, 1945, 1962; Berkovits 1964 207-208; Csejdy 1994; Hindman 1997; Hermann 1933  117-120; Hoffmann 1933, 296-29781; Komada 2000, 128-129, 132;; Szigeti 1969; Sieveking 1986,142; Radocsay Soltesz 1969, 25-27, 65-67;  Soltesz 2007, Varju 1908, 5-20.

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References

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by Luchia Meihua Lee, November 2017