Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Compilatio historiarum / Giovanni, da Udine
Switzerland, Basel, ca. 1476
MS M.158 fol. 35v

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Miniature, upper left: 1) Saul: hurling Javelin at David -- Saul, wearing crown over hat, sits on bench, raising spear with right hand toward David, crowned, partly kneeling, extending bowl in hands. Scene in room with arched window and tiled floor. Miniature, lower left: 2) Cain: killing Abel and Cain and Abel: bringing Offerings -- Abel, eyes closed, reclining on ground beside hat, over which leans Cain, wearing hat, raising mattock. In background, Cain and Abel kneel with joined hands raised before altar on which is sheaf of wheat and sheep, both in flames. Miniature, upper right: 3) Christ: mocked -- Christ, crossed scallopped nimbus, blindfolded, wrists bound, is seated on bench surrounded by three tormenters, two wearing hats, raise left hands, and one at right, partly kneels, raising palm with left hand. Scene in room with vaulted ceiling and tiled floor. Miniature, lower right: 4) Hur: mocked by Israelites -- Hur, wrists bound, partly kneels, surrounded by three tormenters, wearing hats or headgear, one grasps right arm of the Hur, the other two extend left hands, distorting their features. Scene in landscape. Miniatures for Bernhart Richel’s Spiegel der Menschlichen Behältnis (Basel: 1476) with biblical quotes, commentary and abbreviated extracts, in German, for Chapters 18 (Saul: hurling Javelin at David and Cain: killing Abel) and 19 in the Speculum Humanae Salvationis.