page_title: Paris Psalter
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Paris Psalter / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Paris psalter, BnF MS Grec 139, folio 436v. Français&#160;: Psautier de Paris, BnF MS Grec 139, folio 436v. Isaïe et Ézéchias, Présage de la guérison d'Ézéchias.
context_page_description: The Paris Psalter is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript, 38 x 26.5 cm in size, containing 449 folios and 14 full-page miniatures. The Paris Psalter is considered a key monument of the so-called Macedonian Renaissance, a 10th-century renewal of interest in classical art closely identified with the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and his immediate successors.
  In the classification of Greek biblical manuscripts, it is designated by siglum 1133.
context_section_description: The Paris Psalter is a copy of the 150 Psalms of David, translated from the Hebrew into demotic Greek. The psalter is followed by the Canticles of the Old Testament, a further series of prayers. Both these texts were particularly well-suited for use by members of the laity in private devotional exercises. The popularity of this use of the psalter is reflected in the numerous extant luxury copies, often lavishly illuminated, made for royal and aristocratic patrons. The Paris Psalter is the pre-eminent Byzantine example of this genre.
  The Paris Psalter includes not only the biblical texts, but an extensive interpretive gloss of the entire cycle of prayers. This commentary, which comprises quotations and paraphrases of patristic exegetical works, surrounds the verses. Even though it is written in a smaller pitch than the primary text, the gloss occupies far more of each page than ths psalms, which are reduced to a few verses per page. The length of the gloss causes the longer psalms to occupy up to 8 pages. 
  Glossed biblical texts were usually commissioned by monastic libraries, clerics and theologians. The classical and royal iconography and sumptuousness of the Paris Psalter, however, strongly point to an imperial patron; while the gloss implies a reader with serious intellectual and spiritual inclinations, such as Constantine VII.
  The manuscript is written in a minusucule bouletée hand, which closely resembles that of several other Byzantine manuscripts of the same period, including an illuminated gospel book, (Parisinus graecus 70); a Gospel Book (London, British Library Add MS 11 300); a Gospel Book (Venice, Biblioteca Marciana Marcianus graecus I 18); the Acts and Epistles (Oxford, Bodleian Library  MS. Canon. Gr. 110); and Basil of Caesarea (Oxford, Corpus Christi 26). These books, along with the Paris Psalter, were, in all likelihood, produced in the same Constantinopolitan scriptorium.
  The manuscript’s importance in art history is based on the 14 superb, full-page illuminations that illustrate its texts. These singleton pages were tipped in to the manuscript and are not part of its regular gathering structure. The first seven images preceding the text depict scenes from the life of David, the author of the psalms, who is usually accompanied by personifications. The eighth miniature marks the beginning of the penitential Psalms; and the last 6, depicting Moses, Jonah, Hannah, Ezekiel and Hezekiah, introduce and illustrate the Canticles of the Old Testament. The subject of the miniatures is as follows:
  1v: David playing the harp with Melodia (μελωδία) seated beside him;
  2v: David kills the lion assisted by Strength (ἰσχύς);
  3v: The anointing of David by Samuel, with Lenity (πραότης) observing;
  4v: David, accompanied by Power (δύναμις) slays Goliath, as Arrogance (ἀλαζόνεια) flees;
  5v: Triumphant Return of David to Jerusalem;
  6v: Coronation of David by Saul;
  7v: David Stands with a psalter open to Psalm 71, flanked by Wisdom (σοφία) and Prophecy (προφητεία);
  136v: Nathan Rebukes David concerning Bathsheba; the Penitence of David with Repentance (μετάνοια); 
  419v: Moses parting the Red Sea, with personifications of the desert, night, the abyss, and the Red Sea;
  422v: Moses Receives the Tablets of the Law;
  428v: Hannah thanks God for the birth of Samuel;
  431v: Scenes from Jonah;
  435v: Isaiah with Night (νύξ) and Dawn (ὄρθρος);
  446v: King Hezekiah.
  Jean Porcher has assigned the full-page illuminations to five artists, or hands, attributing 6 miniatures to the lead artist, Hand A.
caption: Healing of Hezekiah, fol. 466v.
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