Gellone Sacramentary
Type:
Illuminated manuscripts
Date:
ca. 780–804
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
France
Medium:
Parchment
Dimensions:
30 ×18 cm
Description:
Sacramentaries are books that contain the words spoken and sung by a priest during liturgical services and the mass. The Gellone Sacramentary was made during a transitional period when sacramentaries were becoming more standardized in the name of unifying and Romanizing the Frankish liturgy. Since the earliest illustrated sacramentaries appeared during the Carolingian era, these texts were not drawing on a longstanding and fixed iconography. The result is that illustrations in the Gellone Sacramentary are often unusual. Near the beginning of the book, a priest-like figure representing both Mary and Ecclesia (the personification of the church) carries a censor and processional cross. Elsewhere, a triumphant Christ appears on a gemmed cross that is also a large letter T (for Te igitur). Blood pours from his side but his eyes are wide open and his body is erect.
The Gellone Sacramentary is filled with expressive initials. Some letters comprise animals knotted together with each other, with fantastical creatures, or with dismembered human body parts. Other initials use highly individualized and expressive faces, often to represent the letter O. There are two initials that are part-letter, part-Evangelist symbol: In the first case, the head and curly mane of a lion are built into one of the peaks of the letter M (of Marcus evangelista). On the back of the folio, the head of an ox with long horns and a curly mane is perched upon the letter L (for Lucas evangelista). In addition to these hybrid letters, there are zoomorphic (animal-headed) Evangelists (e.g., the eagle-headed John appears on the same folio as the Luke initial).
The Gellone Sacramentary is filled with expressive initials. Some letters comprise animals knotted together with each other, with fantastical creatures, or with dismembered human body parts. Other initials use highly individualized and expressive faces, often to represent the letter O. There are two initials that are part-letter, part-Evangelist symbol: In the first case, the head and curly mane of a lion are built into one of the peaks of the letter M (of Marcus evangelista). On the back of the folio, the head of an ox with long horns and a curly mane is perched upon the letter L (for Lucas evangelista). In addition to these hybrid letters, there are zoomorphic (animal-headed) Evangelists (e.g., the eagle-headed John appears on the same folio as the Luke initial).
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
4,
5
Repository and Online Resources:
See the full manuscript on the website of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
