Moses Counting the Children of Israel

c. 1270

French 13th Century

Associated Names
French 13th Century

Artist

This is a painting of an ornate manuscript page with illuminated text and a decorative initial. The page features a beautifully illustrated capital letter 'L' with an illuminated scene depicting five figures in medieval attire set against a gold background. They are arranged within the vertical stroke of the 'L' standing on a blue ground. Above the columns of text, the word "NUMERI" is written in multicolored, decorative letters. The surrounding text is in Latin and is rendered in a uniform, Gothic script that fills two columns on aged, cream-colored parchment. The design of the illuminated letter and the use of color within the letter contrast with the black ink of the text.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera and gold leaf on vellum

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 48.5 x 35.8 cm (19 1/8 x 14 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1946.21.7

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    NGA Miniatures 1975, no. 37, State A

  • Series Title

    Leaf and Bifolio from a Bible [1946.21.6-7]

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Dr. Erwin Rosenthal, Berkeley, CA); Lessing J. Rosenwald; gift to the National Gallery, 1946.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1965

  • Works of Faith, Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, 1965, no cat.

1971

  • A Selection of X-Xv Century Medieval Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art Rosenwald Collection, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, 1971, no. 16.

1975

  • Medieval and Renaissance Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1975, no. 37A, repro.

Bibliography

1971

  • Branner, Robert. “A Cutting from a Thirteenth-century French Bible.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58, no. 7 (September 1971): 221ff., fig. 7

1972

  • Beer, Ellen J. “Liller Bibelcodices, Tournai und das Scriptorium der Stadt Arras.” Aachener Kunstblätter 43 (1972), 226.

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. Medieval and Renaissance Miniatures from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1975: 37, A.

Wikidata ID

Q64570755

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