1976 Benaki Psalter

8/10/2019 1976 Benaki Psalter

1/53

Anthony CutlerAnnemarie Weyl Carr

The Psalter Benaki 34.3. An unpublished illuminated manuscript

from the family 2400In: Revue des tudes byzantines, tome 34, 1976. pp. 281-324.

Abstract

REB 34 1976Francep. 281-323+8 pi.

A. Cutler and Annemarie Weyl Carr, The Psalter Benaki 34.3. The 162 illuminations in this manuscript are shown to be a

combination of large-scale miniatures closely related to those of the Family 2400 and a much larger group of pictures

seemingly invented for the illustration of every psalm. A date of ca. 1180-90 is suggested as is an origin in Cyprus or Jerusalem

where Barnabas, the painter and scribe, must have had access to a motif book from which he assembled many of his

pictures.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Cutler Anthony, Weyl Carr Annemarie. The Psalter Benaki 34.3. An unpublished illuminated manuscript from the family 2400. In:

Revue des tudes byzantines, tome 34, 1976. pp. 281-324.

doi : 10.3406/rebyz.1976.2055

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rebyz_0766-5598_1976_num_34_1_2055
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/author/auteur_rebyz_259http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/author/auteur_rebyz_260http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1976.2055http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rebyz_0766-5598_1976_num_34_1_2055http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rebyz_0766-5598_1976_num_34_1_2055http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1976.2055http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/author/auteur_rebyz_260http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/author/auteur_rebyz_259


2/53

THE PSALTER

BENAKI 34.3

An unpublished illuminated manuscript

from

the

family 2400

Anthony CUTLER and

Annemarie

WEYL

CARR

The manuscript exhibited as Vitr. 34.3 1

in

the

Benaki

Museum at Athens

i

s

the

only

Byzantine

Psalter

of which it can be said with certainty that it

was

the

artist's

intention

to

provide an

illumination

for

every

Psalm2.

Even Theodore,

the

painter

of the

435 miniatures

that

adorn Add. 193523

did

not aspire

to

so full a

body

of illustration, while the unknown artists

of Vat. gr.

7524

and Vat. gr. 1927 5 clearly had no such ambition. As

the

most

complete, if

far from the most attractive,

body of

Psalm illustration,

it

should surely command our interest ; if

for nothing else,

the

Benaki

Psalter

(like Vat. gr. 752)

disproves Strzygowski's assertion that Munich,

1.

In

M.

Richard,

Rpertoire

des bibliothques

et

des

catalogues

des manuscrits grecs2,

Paris 1958,

p.

39, it is listed

as

Vitr.

34.12,

an identification

followed

by Weitzmann

(note 7, infra).

2.

This can be

asserted despite

the fact that one leaf is

missing

(between f. 159

and

160),

containing the illustration

to

Ps. 137 and

a portion of

the

text that followed

it.

3.

Sirarpie

Der

Nersessian,

V llustration des

psautiers

grecs du Moyen Age, II. Londres,

Add. 19.352, Paris 1970.

4. E.

T.

De

Wald, The Illustrations in the Manuscripts

of

the

Septuagint,

III, Psalms

and Odes, 2,

Vaticanus

Graecus

752, Princeton 1942.

5.

Idem,

Vaticanus graecus

1927, Princeton 1941.


3/53

282 . CUTLER AND

ANNEMARIE

WEYL

CARR

slav.

4, is

the only known manuscript

to contain

illustrations

to each of

Psalms 148-1506.

But

the

significance

of the

Psalter does

not lie

in these quantitative facts,

nor

even

in

the

problems

of

chronology

and

curious

stylistic

mutability

that it raises,

problems which, as will be

seen, can

be

approached with

some

degree of confidence. Rather

its

major claim to

scholarly

interest is

its

singular

combination of generally small

prefatory miniatures

before the

Psalms

much as

in

the

above-mentioned

Vatican Psalters with

pictures

occupying

either

the

entirety

or

some slightly smaller portion of

the

page

preceding Psalms

50,

77 and 151 as is conventional in

the so-called 'aristo

cratic' psalters. This

apparently

neat distinction is, however,

complicated

by the fact

that illuminations of

this

larger

format are

likewise attached

to Psalms 118 and 136. When to this diversity of scale is

added the complexity

of

a

body

of

iconography

found

in

psalters

of

all

types,

it

is

obvious

that

we are

confronted

with the work of

a

painter

even

less bound by

the ar

bitr ry distinctions set

up

by

art

historians

than

the artist

of

Sinai gr.

48

whose iconographical independence has recently

been

suggested7.

It

is

the

more surprising, then, that

the

Benaki

Psalter has attracted

so

little attention.

Little is known

of its

provenance.

It

belonged to

the

family

of Mamoukas,

an

Athenian

man

of letters, before

passing to

the

Benaki

Museum8. While

still

in

private

possession,

it was examined by G. Lampa-

kis9. Apparently unknown to

A.

Rahlfs, since

it

does

not appear

in

his

Verzeichnis

der

griechischen

Handschriften des Alten

Testaments (1914),

it

has

only

once

been mentioned

and once

more

fully

discussed

in

un

published American doctoral

dissertations10. To

the

extent

that

space

allows, we intend in

the

following pages to describe

the

manuscript and

6. Die

Miniaturen des

serbischen

Psalters der

knigl.

Hof- und Staatsbibliothek

in

Mnchen = Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in

Wien.

Philosophisch-historische

Klasse. Denkschriften,

52,

2), Vienna

1906,

p.

62.

7. . Weitzmann, Sinaiskaia

psaltir

s illiustratsiiami

na

poliach, Vizantna, iuzhnie

slaviane i

drevnaia

Rus,

zapadnaia

Evropa = Festschrift Lazarev), Moscow

1973,

p. 112-

131.

8.

Information

kindly

supplied

by

Dr. M.

Chatzidakis.

9.

'

, Athens 1896, . 85

;

Idem,

Mmoires sur les antiquits chrtiennes de la Grce, p.

58,

fig.

112 (line

drawing

of

minia

ture o

Ps. 87, 4-5,

here

mistakenly

assigned to

Ps.

137),

113.

10 . L. D. Popovi, Personifications in

Palaeologan

Painting (1261-1453), Bryn Mawr

College 1963,

p. 317, fig. 42 ; Annemarie Weyl Carr, The

Rockefeller

McCormick

New

Testament : Studies Towards a Reattribution of

Chicago,

University

Library,

MS.

965,

University of

Michigan 1973,

p.

70, 71, 87, 91 note 12, 100 note 57,

fig. 194. The

contents of

the manuscript

have been

briefly described

by

Doula

Mouriki,

BZ 66, 1973,

p.

117.


4/53

THE PSALTER BENAKI 34.3

283

the

more interesting of its

162

miniatures,

to

suggest

the

limited extent

to

which

it

is dependent upon earlier works and to

identify its

stylistic and

chronological context. Each of these steps

is

necessary if we are

to

re

cognize

the

significance

of

this

unlovely

but

unparalleled

manuscript

for

the

history

of

Byzantine

psalter

illumination.

II

Benaki

Vitr.

34.3

is

a

small codex of 198 folios and 49

gatherings, its

14.8 11.4

cm dimensions sitting easily in

the hand. It

is

written

in

black

ink with magenta capitals in twenty-four lines to

the

page.

The

script is

a

diminutive minuscule, disposed

in

a single

column, pendant

from

the

lines

and

using

thirty

to thirty-two letters

per

line.

It

occupies

only

about

a

quarter of

the

interlinear

space.

Of

the

162 illuminations,

159 are original

to our

Psalter. These consist of prefatory miniatures

to

Psalms 1-150 (f. lr-

173 v), two superimposed images at

the

end of Psalm 151 (f. 174r), a

full-

page

dedication

picture (f. 175y) following an

effusive poem which serves

as a

colophon,

and images introducing

the

Canticles (Deuteronomy Ode-

Prayer of

Manasses, f.

179v-193r). The Odes are

bracketed

by three ill

uminations

on inserted

pages

: a pair depicting

the

Egyptians drowning in

the Red Sea

(f. 176v-177r) and a large miniature showing what

is apparently

a family group in a leafy

garden

venerating

an

icon of

the

Theotokos

(f.

194r).

This

stands

at

the

head

of

the

first

of

two

prayers

to the

Virgin

that close

the

book.

In order

that the original cycle

may

be seen as

a

whole,

we

shall

consider these

heterogeneous

miniatures

first.

The two

miniatures illustrating

the

Exodus Ode

are located

on the

in

terior verso and recto faces of an inserted bifolium,

the

outer

sides

of which

are

left blank11. That of

the

drowning Egyptians

centres

on

the figure

of

Pharaoh in orange armour, blue helmet and corselet, being pulled from his

biga by a personification of the Sea (fig. I)12 ; she, in turn, wears

a

short,

sleeveless

green

tunic

over a long red

skirt

and is

seated

in an

orange

cockles

hell.

his

brilliance

of

colour

is

borne

out

in

the

other

details

of the

pictures.

The

sides

of Pharaoh's

chariot

consist of pink and white striations. It

rests

on

pink

wheels and

is pulled

by two horses. That

to

the

left is largely

abraded

11. At the top

of

f. 176r is a brief, and illegible, inscription.

12. The miniature is

assigned

by Popovic

(note

10, supra)

to

the 'fourteenth or fifteenth

century'.

She does not suggest that it

and

its pendant are not

homogeneous

with the

rest of the

manuscript.


5/53

284 . CUTLER AND

ANNEMARIE

WEYL CARR

but evidently

orange with blue trappings

;

the

horse to

the

right

is

black

with

a

brown

yoke

and

green

saddle. At upper left,

a

rider clad like Pharaoh

clings

in vain to

the tail of his black horse while,

to

the

right,

another

figure

floats

on

his

back

partially

covered

by

a

pink shield

turned

inside

out

to reveal

black handles.

The disaster

is set against a light blue sea

rising

towards brown rocks at

the top

and unfolds beneath

a

lowering,

dark blue

sky13.

More

than

its

situation on

the

facing page connects

this

image with

that of

the

Moses

and

the

Israelites

watching

the

foundering

army

from

the

safety of

the

right

side of

'diptych' (fig.

2). The two

scenes

are bound

at the botton by

the

form of a

scavenger-Israelite

who has succeeded in

lassoing a drowned Egyptian, again clad like Pharaoh but

with

pink leggings

and a green shield,

whom

he

is

busily

hauling in from one page

to

the

other.

So,

too,

the

purple-brown rocks

and

dark

sky

continue

the

landscape

elements of

the first

picture. This

double

image differs from

the

version

the

Octateuchs14 and most other Psalters15 in that

Moses

is shown here

as one

of the

astonished spectators rather than as

the

leader whose staff

closes

the sea

upon

the

pursuers. Even in those manuscripts where, as in

ours,

a narrative

continuity is suggested

by the

use of

two

successive i

llumin tions for this Ode,

the

emphasis is differently

placed.

As

in

the

Octateuchs,

so

in some Psalters

associated

with

the

'Nicaea School' and,

more particularly with the 'Family

2400'

16, the

second

miniature

is devoted

to

the

triumphal

dance

of Miriam and her companions17. In others of

the

same

family18,

as

in

Vat.

1927

19,

the

first

miniature

is

devoted

to the

Pursuit

of the

Egyptians, the

narrative antecedent

ignored in Vitr. 34.3.

Finally, in no manuscript are facing verso and recto pages used, as they

13 . Although

the

Exodus

miniatures

are

obviously by

a later hand,

the colour

of

the

sky

here and

on the next page is frequently used for the

arc

of heaven earlier in the

manuscript.

This

may suggest some attempt

to

accomodate the insertions

to

the main

body of illumination.

14. E.g. Vat.

gr.

747 : K.

Weitzmann,

The Psalter Vatopedi 761.

Its

Place in the Aristo

cratic

Recension,

Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 10,

1947,

p. 48, fig. 23.

15.

E.g.

Athos, Vatopedi

761,

f.

206v

:

ibid., p.

27-28,

fig.

11

;

Athens,

Nat. Lib. cod.

7, f. 228 v :

P.

Buberl,

Die

Miniaturhandschriften der Nationalbibliothek in Athen

= Denkschriften, note 6, supra, 60, 2), Vienna 1917, pi. XVII,

42.

16 . On this

relationship,

see below p. 305 ff.

17. Thus

Athos,

Laura B. 26, f. 262r and

Palermo,

Ms. dep. Museo

4,

f.

287V

(A.

Daneu Lattanzi, / manoscritti ed incunaboli

miniati

della Sicilia, Rome

1965,

pi.

II, 2).

18. New

York

Public Library, Spencer

Collection, Gr.

Ms.

1, f.

365r

:

A.

Cutler,

The Spencer Psalter

: A

Thirteenth-Century Byzantine Manuscript

in

the New

York

Public Library, CA 23, 1974,

p.

132-133,

142-145, fig.

13.

19 . F. 265V : De Wald, Vat. gr. 1927 (note

5,

supra), pi. LXVI.


6/53


285

are here,

to

create a physical as well as a syntagmatic bond between these

scenes.

This

compositional

originality is borne out in

the details

of

the

miniatures.

Like

the

inverted

shields

of

the

drowned

Egyptians,

the

figure

of

Thalassa

would seem

to have no

manuscript

parallel20.

In

Palaeologan monumental

art, however,

one finds

the

same figure rides in a carriage-shell on a sea-

monster

in

the

Last

Judgement

at Gracanica21 ; while

in

the

elaborate

mosaic of

the

Baptism at

the

Fetiye

Camii

in

Istanbul,

Sea is a nude figure

holding an oar

drawn

from the rear22. On iconographical grounds it would

seem

safe to place this pair

of

miniatures in or shortly after

the fourteenth

century : the

peculiar carriage

of the arms and head

of

the apparently

neckless woman

besides

Moses is

a

commonplace in images of

Rachel

weeping for her Children. But no greater precision is possible, given that

this

mourning

figure is

used in

programmes

as far

apart chronologically

and geographically as

the

Kariye Camii23 and

Markov

Manastir24. Stylisti

cally, too,

the

full-blown

Palaeologan

mannerisms of Moses'

drapery

suggest a fourteenth-century date. These mannerisms distinguish

the

Red

Sea

images from

the

original miniatures

in

the book ; isolated colours

such as

the

chalky blues and salmon faces are

not

unlike

the

colours in the

main

body

of the illustration, however, and suggest that the

later

miniatures

may

have

been

made

in

the

same place. In no medium does

there

exist a

precedent for this idiosyncratic version of

the

climax of

the

Exodus drama.

The

last intrusive

(and

the only

frameless)

miniature

in

the

Benaki

Psalter

is surely even later than

the

illuminations attached to

the first

Ode.

Before

a

low

wall, two groups

of figures25 stand in

prayer

on either side of an

icon

of the

Nikopoia

set

within an enclosed

garden

(fig.

3). The

image is

attached to

an upright post, seemingly part of a

green,

two-storey structure

with

a

red

roof. Behind the group of four richly-dressed youths

to

the

left rises

a

blue tabernacle with red and blue curtains and

a

pyramidal roof.

20. This

personification occurs

in

Paris

gr. 139 and related

Psalters,

and in all the

Octateuchs

save

for

Yat.

gr.

747.

21. D. Talbot Rice,

Byzantine

Frescoes

from Yugoslav Churches, Unesco 1963, p. 24.

22. Dumbarton Oaks photograph n F.C. 21-59-3.

23. P. Underwood, The Kariye

Djarni, New

York 1966, II, pi.

196.

24.

Talbot Rice, Art of the

Byzantine

Era,

London 1963,

fig.

197.

25. The portion

of

the miniature

to

the spectator's right is

considerably abraded.

Inspection of

the

Psalter reveals at

least two figures

in this

area

of which

the foremost

is certainly male. This is apparently the

miniature

described by Galavaris, Illustrations

(note 55, infra)

as

belonging to Athens,

Benaki

Mus. cod. 1. He suggests

that

its textual

source

is perhaps a

Theotokarion

but

notes

that no illustrated Theotokaria survive.

20


7/53

286 . CUTLER AND ANNEMARIE WEYL CARR

The

dominant

presence of the Theotokos

here

most nearly

recalls

a late

sixteenth

or

early seventeenth-century panel recently published by Otto

Demus in

which a

monk

kneels before an

icon

of the Hodegitria set

in

a

tree26.

This

panel

commemorates

the

foundation

of

the

Nea

Moni

on

Chios

and

bears

no relation

to Psalter

iconography. But the understanding of

the

Psalter as

a

garden is at

least

as old as Cosmas Indicopleustes

who,

in

an

excursus on David, describes the Psalmist's

creation

as a 27.

Only

rarely did Byzantine artists pursue this analogy. Perhaps

the most

notable example is

the

frontispiece

to

an early twelfth-century Psalter

in Oxford, Barocci 15 (f. 39r,

unpublished)

in

which a standing David

presents his book

to an

icon of

the

Theotokos. She appears

above

a peristyle

through

the arches of which trees are visible. This arcade connects a tall

house to

the

left with an elaborate tabernacle with drawn curtains and

pyramidal

roof

as

in

our miniature28.

However,

there

is

no

further

relation

ship

etween

these

two

pictures and

the

most

that

can be said of

the

image

in

the Benaki

Psalter is that it represents an iconographical tradition much

older than this post-Byzantine addition to

our

manuscript.

One

aspect

of this tradition

may

be indicated by the

fact

that the

Nikopoia

in our

picture is set upon

a

post, suggesting

a

possible origin as

a processional

icon.

Christopher

Walter

has drawn attention

to

a

similar

attachment

to

an

image

of

the

Eleousa on the early twelfth-century iconostasis of the en-

kleistra of St. Neophytos on

Cyprus,

and

to

the

custom

of attaching pro

cessional

icons

to

a

ciborium29.

While

the

icon

is

not

set

in

the

ciborium

in

the Benaki

picture, its context

directly evokes

the

supplicatory significance

that Walter

has shown

to be essential to an

understanding

of

the Eleousa

image.

This apparent 'rootlessness' is contradicted

by the first two

full-page

original pictures in

the manuscript.

F. 57r is left blank to

allow a

convent

ional mage of

Nathan's

Rebuke and David's Penitence (fig. 5) on

its

verso side

to

face

the

opening

of Ps. 50. The king, resplendent in a red tunic

with gold collar,

blue

mantle and

red boots, sits

on a backless

brick-

red throne with

a

green cushion.

Behind him

is

a

three-storey struc-

26.

Grecheskaia ikona

osnovaniia, Festschrift Lazarev (note

7,

supra),

p. 179-182.

27.

Christian

Topography, V, 120 : Wolska-Conus, II,

SC

159, Paris 1970, p.

179.

28. A similar

roof covers the 'ciborium'

enclosing an icon of

the Theotokos

venerated

by a family

of

eight in the prefatory miniature

of

the Greco-Latin Psalter, Berlin Kupfer-

stichkabinett, Hamilton 78 A9, f. 39V :

A.

Grabar,

Uiconoclasme

byzantin,

Paris 1957,

p. 202,

fig.

1.

29. Further Notes on the Deesis,

REB

28, 1970,

p.

162-168,

fig. 2,

4.


8/53

THE

PSALTER BENAKI 34.3

287

ture30

with

a green

dome.

Above, a three-quarter length angel,

emerging

left

from

a

dark blue arc,

directs a

red spear towards

David but looks

towards

the prophet. Nathan, standing before a taller structure than

that of

David,

wears

a

long

blue

tunic

beneath

a

magenta

mantle.

Despite

these

'islands'

of brilliant colour,

the

elements of

the scene

are connected by

the

circle

closed

by

the

prophet's gaze fixed upon

the

king.

So

compact is this

unit

that

one almost

ignores the

figure

of the

penitent

David

huddled in pro-

skynesis

at

Nathan's feet.

So effective and

simple

a composition is not

the

invention of

our

artist.

It

is

found

in several

Psalters associated

with

the Family

2400

:

in

Athos,

Laura

B.

26

31 and British Museum, Add. 40753 32

the

angel of

the

Lord

flies from left

to

right33 rather than as in Vitr. 34.3,

but

otherwise

the

schema is

identical.

Similar compositions

are found

is Istanbul,

Topkapi

834

and

a

Psalter

now

in

a

private

collection

in

Switzerland35, but

each

of

these

lack

the angelic doryphoros of

the

Benaki, Laura and London man

uscripts. That

our

miniature's closest surviving relative is

Laura

B. 26

(despite the absence

here

of our

Psalter's

architectural

setting) cannot be

doubted. Not

only

are

the enthroned

David's gesture and his attitude of

penitence

repeated

almost exactly but

only in

the Athos manuscript

is

there a parallel for the inscription

set

between the two

principal figures,

a text which

confirms

the origin of this scene as

an

illustration

to the Book

of Kings36.

30. In

both

form

and

colour the

construction

of David's palace is assimilated to that

of his throne. Typical of

the

Family 2400 as a

whole,

this

reductionist

approach is a

characteristic

aspect of

the art

of

the

Master of

the Benaki Psalter and

a clear indication

of

the simplifications inherent in

at

least

this

act

of

copying.

31. F.

227V

(unpublished).

Cf.

G. MiLLET-Sirarpie Der

Nersessian,

Le

psautier arm

nien

illustr,

Revue des tudes armniennes 9, 1929, p. 166.

32. F. 49V (unpublished). Here David

squats

on his toes

rather

than crouches, a

posi

tion consistent

with

the more mouvement

attitudes of

Nathan and David in

this

miniature

as against

those

of

the Benaki Psalter and Laura B. 26.

In

the

Catalogue

of

Additions to

the Manuscripts

in

the British

Museum

1921-25, London 1950,

p.

167-168, the manuscript

is dated 'xi-xn century'.

33.

In a Psalter which

presumably

reflects

the prototypical two pages devoted

to

this

incident, the

angel

flies

to

the

right

above

the

Rebuke

(f.

126r)

and

to

the

left

above

the Penitence (f. 126V) : Cutler,

Spencer

Psalter

(note

18,

supra),

p. 139-140, 142, fig. 5,

7.

34. F.

104v

:

A. Munoz,

Tre codici miniati della Biblioteca del Serraglio a Costan-

tinopoli, Studi Bizantini

1,

1924,

p. 204 fig. 8.

35. F. 38 (unpublished): Sotheby

and

Co., Catalogue

of

mportant Western Manuscripts

and

Miniatures,

July

8, 1970, n 92.

36.

( )

(II Reg. 12,14). In the Laura miniature,

this response of

Nathan's is set

above

David's

confession . These

inscriptions are

attached

to

this scene also

in British Museum, Add. 40731, f. 82V

: Suzy

Dufrenne, L'illustration

des psautiers grecs du moyen

ge, I,

Paris 1966,

p.

59, pi.

52.


9/53

288 A. CU7LER AND ANNEMARIE WEYL CARR

This relationship is confirmed by the Benaki Psalter's frontispiece

to

Psalm

77 (fig.

6). The colour and form of Nathan's garments

in the previous

miniature

are

here assumed

by

Moses standing, scroll in hand37, teaching

a

group

of

Israelites

only two

of

whose

faces

are clearly visible.

The

sim

plicity

of

this composition is found in

manuscripts such

as

Athos,

Laura

B. 2438 and Paris, suppl.

gr.

133539, where a teaching Christ is substituted

for

Moses

giving

the

Law. But, although

the

number

of 'aristocratic'

Psalters with

Moses

in this situation is considerably larger40, we

need

look

no farther than

the

Family

2400

for reasonable facsimiles of

the

image

in question.

The

tiny Psalter in

the

British Museum, Add.

40753,

accom

modates both and actively gesturing

Moses

and a more populous group

of Israelites41 than

our

miniature. But it is evident that neither

iconogra-

phical tradition nor

the

absolute size

of

the

book had much

to

do

with

the

number

of

the

audience

or

the

degree

of

movement

with

which

its

teacher

is endowed. Rather,

the

width of

the

miniature in relation to

its

height

seems

to be

the

determining factor, and presumably

a

factor

very

much under the control of

the

painter. Where

he chose

to

paint a picture

of more slender proportions, as in

the

Benaki

Psalter, the

number of

Is

r elites is accordingly reduced. It is so, too, in Laura B. 26 where

Moses

likewise

holds an open

scroll

in

his

right

hand and addresses a small group

again dominated by a bearded man

to

the

left and a woman beside him,

her

head

covered with

a

maphorion42.

37. It is uncertain

whether

a true

text

has been rubbed

off

the scroll or

whether

it

bore

only the meaningless scribles

as

on that

held by

Moses in the same scene in Istanbul,

Topkapi

cod.

8, f. 155V

(A. Munoz,

Tre codici,

note 34,

supra, p.

204,

fig. 7,

here identified

as Jonah

preaching to

the Ninevites and

connected

with

Ps.

73), and

Florence, Laur.

6.36, f. 312r (unpublished). Cf. . Rostagno-N. Festa, Indice

dei

codici

greci

Lauren-

ziana non compresi nel catalogo

del

Bandini, Studi italiani di filologia classica

1,

1893,

p. 219.

38. F. 105r

(unpublished).

Cf.

Spyridon-Eustratiades, Catalogue of the

Greek Man

uscripts in

the Library

of

the

Laura

on

Mount Athos

(Harvard Theological

Studies

13),

Cambridge Mass. 1925, n 144.

39. F.

296V

(unpublished). Cf. H.

Omont,

Un

nouveau

manuscrit

grec

des

Evangiles

et

du

Psautier

illustr,

Comptes

rendus

de

l'Acadmie

des

Inscriptions

et

Belles-Lettres

15, 1912,

p.

516.

40. The most useful

analysis

of these miniatures is to be found in H. Belting, Zum

Palatina-Psalter des

13.

Jahrhunderts,

JOB 21, 1972,

p. 26-31.

41.

F. 75V (unpublished). Cf. note 32, supra. The size

of

the manuscript in

8.6x6.3

cm;

that of

the

miniature

is nearly

as

wide :

7.1x6.0.

It represents at least six Israelites,

including a woman bearing a child on her shoulders. Moses gestures toward the

crowd

with his

right

hand and, with his left, toward

the hand

of God

offering

a

codex

( ) from

out of an arc.

42. F.

237V : Millet-Der

Nersessian,

Psautier armnien (note

31,

supra), pi. XV,

1.


10/53

THE PSALTER BENAKI 34.3 289

No such

straightforward

connection exists

between

any

known

Psalter

and

the

last

pair of miniatures

in Vitr.

34.3

that

could depend upon an

'aristocratic' model. F. 174r offers two images representing discrete

but

closely related moments

in

David's

struggle

with

Goliath, separated

by

the

last

verse of Ps.

151

which

ends in

the

lower

right margin

(fig. 7)43.

A division

of this scene into two registers

is

far from uncommon

in Psalter

illumination

: Dumbarton Oaks 344, the

former Berlin,

Christlich-Archolog

is heniversittsammlung

380745, now missing,

Florence, Laur.

6.3646,

the

Spencer Psalter47, Oxford,

Bodl.

Barocci 1548, and

Cambridge, Har

vard College Lib. gr. 349, all

distinguish in

this fashion

the battle

under

way from

the

battle

won. Numerous others

combine the

two

scenes

within

a single frame50. Few of these examples are as brilliantly coloured as the

Benaki miniatures which

set David, in

a

red

tunic

with

gold

collar and

hem,

and

Goliath,

in

a

gold

breastplate

over

a

short

blue

tunic,

against

each

other

on a green ground. More important, no

other Psalter

and

indeed

no other

Byzantine work

known

to

us

displays

the

moment

represented

in

the

upper frame.

Here the giant

is approached by

the running shepherd,

his spear spent and

sinking

to

his knees when struck by

David's

stone.

Before

we can

decide

whether

the

scene

is an

invention of

the Benaki

Master,

it would

be well to

consider the

lower

miniature. Images of the

decapitation

are

legion and

Weitzmann has

distinguished between

two

fundamental types : those in

which

the

giant lies upon his

back (which

he believes

to

be

'closer

to the

archetype')

as

against

those

in

which

Goliath

kneels

in the

attitude

of a

Christian

martyr51.

The

majority of Psalter

43.

The unusual format

of this page

and the 'spillage'

of text

into the margin

indicate

that at

least these

miniatures

were

painted

before the scribe's

duty was

completed.

44.

F. 71' :

S.

Der Nersessian, A Psalter and

New

Testament

Manuscript at

Dumb

arton

Oaks,

DOP

19, 1965,

fig.

8.

45.

F. 231

r

: G. Stuhlfauth,

A

Greek Psalter with Byzantine

Miniatures, Art

Bulletin

15,

1933,

fig.

13.

46. F. 347' (unpublished). Cf. Rostagno-Festa, Indice (note

37,

supra).

47.

F.

363v

:

A.

Cutler,

Spencer

Psalter (note

18,

supra),

fig. 11.

48.

F.

343'

:

K.

Weitzmann, Prolegomena

to

a

Study of

the

Cyprus

Plates, Metropol

itan

useum

Journal

3,

1970,

fig.

8.

49.

F. 215V (unpublished). Cf.

Illuminated

Greek

Manuscripts from

American Collect

ions,Princeton 1973, n 32. We await a fuller study

of

this manuscript by Lawrence Nees,

due

to

appear in DOP.

50. Paris, B.N. gr. 139, f. 4V : H. Buchthal, The Miniatures

of

the Paris

Psalter,

London 1938,

fig.

4 ; Athos, Vatopedi 760, f.

264'

:

Weitzmann,

Prolegomena

(note

48,

supra),

fig.

19

;

British Museum,

Add.

40753,

f. 145V

(unpublished).

Cf. note

32,

supra.

51.

K.

Weitzmann,

Vatopedi

761

(note

14, supra),

p.

41-42,

46 ;

Idem, Prolegomena

(note

48, supra),

p. 103-106.


11/53

290 . CUTLER AND

ANNEMARIE WEYL

CARR

illustrations of this

second

type

show

David

in the act of applying

the

sword to

the

Philistine's neck52.

But our

scene

shows

the giant

on 'all

fours',

still helmeted

but

with

his shield beneath him, awaiting

the

descent

of

the

blade

yet

raised

above

the

shepherd s

right

shoulder.

This

frozen

moment before

the

execution occurs

in

the

third-century

wall-painting

in

the

Christian Building

at

Dura-Europos

(where Goliath lies upon his

back)53. But in

manuscript illumination

it

is

found

only

in a

Psalter

which

we

have

already had

several

occasions

to

cite

:

British Museum, Add.

40753

54. Even though

the

miniature

in

London

is awkwardly

composed

David

stands

by the

giant s feet preparing to

behead him

with

a

back

stroke

in light of this and of

the late

antique fresco,

we

cannot

assume

that

our

rare

scene

originated in

the

Psalter in Athens. Indeed,

the

evidence

of copying elsewhere in

the

manuscript

would

argue strongly against such

an

assumption.

The

fact

remains,

nonetheless,

that

no

parallel

to the

upper

miniature exists. If these scenes are borrowed, then they

derive

from some

iconographical tradition unknown

to us55.

Our search

for

possible ancestors

of the miniatures

discussed above has

included,

among

other works, psalters

of all three

types, 'marginal',

'literal'

and

'aristocratic'.

By

definition,

this

last group

can

be

of no

use

when we

turn

to

illustrations of texts

other

than Ps. 50, 77 and 151. But

even

this

reduction

in

the

number

of manuscripts examined

more in

the

hope

that they might

exemplify

'recensions'

than that they might be

'sources'

for

the

Benaki Psalter's illustrations

does not simplify

the

task of

dete

rmining

the

place

of

the two

remaining large miniatures

within

some

tradition

of Psalter

decoration. The

miniature introducing

Ps.

118

(f. 138r), for

example, shows

King David encountering a tightly knit group of five

bearded men. As such, it

is

a mere illustration of

the

'blameless in

the

way

52. K. Weitzmann, Prolegomena (note

48, supra),

fig.

8,

9.

53. Ibid.,

fig.

7

Ch.

Kraeling, The Christian Building. The Excavations at Dura

Europos,

Final Report,

VIII,

2,

New

Haven

1967, p. 69-71, pi. XLI, 2.

54. F.

145V

(unpublished. Cf. note 32, supra). One

of

the illustrations

to this

psalm

in a Bulgarian work

of

the second half

of

the fourteenth century,

shows

David in the act

of

raising

(or

lowering)

his

sword

above

the

prone

Goliath

while

three

soldiers

hurry

away to

the

right : M. V. Shepkina, Bolgarskaia

miniatiura

XIV veka. Issledovanie

psaltyri

Tomicha,

Moscow 1963, n 66, pi. IV.

55. While

the text

of I

Reg.

17,50

could

have

inspired

an

artist

to render Goliath's

collapse,

the subject

of our upper miniature, and

while the

subsequent verse does not

exclude

an

interpretation

as in

the lower, it

should be noted that

the only surviving

Book

of Kings, Vat.

gr. 333,

shows

the conventional scene

of

Goliath hurling his spear

for

the

first incident

(f. 23V)

and the

'martyr-like' decapitation in its successor

(f.

24r).

Cf. J. Lassus, L'illustration byzantine du Livre des Rois (Bibliothque des Cahiers Archol

ogiques 9),

Paris 1973, nos 42,

43a.


12/53


of

the

psalm's first verse and stands

closer to other

miniatures in

Vitr.

34.3

than to

the illustration of this verse

in

any

other

psalter56.

This, too, is

the situation

of

the

image

that occupies three

quarters of

the

page

on

which

Ps.

136

begins

(f.

159r,

fig.

8).

The

cluster

of

Israelites

form

an impenetrable

receding

triangle of bodies,

its

base

parallel

to

the

picture

plane and diminishing towards

the

rear,

like

the

of Ps. 118

and Moses'

audience in

the

picture to

Ps.

77 (fig.

6). Only these internal

analogies can explain

the

extraordinary iconography of

our

picture. It

defies at once the

text,

which specifies

that

the captives sit by the

rivers

of

Babylon,

and every

other known

representation of

the

scene.

One of

the

highly diverse river-gods found in

the

marginal psalters57

may

have

inhabited

the

mass of forms painted out in

the

lower right corner of

the

miniature. But even this is

doubtful

given that

there

is no clear

indication

of

the

river itself5

8,

and

the certainty

that

the

captors

who

appear

in

almost

every

representation59 of the scene

have no place here.

There can

be no

question

that the artist

did

not

know

the psalm he was illustrating: the

word

written in

magenta

ink at

the

bottom

of

the

miniature, is

the

surviving

fragment of

a quotation from verse 7. But

equally

there is no

excuse

for the

solecism of

a single drum suspended

from

a tree where the

text specifies

that

'we hung our harps on the willows'60. There are only

two possible explanations

for the nature

of this picture. Either

the

painter

deliberately ignored both the textual requirements and any

previous

representation

that

he may

have

known,

or else

he

had no model

whatsoe

ver.

hichever

is

the

case,

the

result

is

what we

have

in

Vitr.

34.3,

f.

159r,

an apparently newly

invented

scene

for

this ancient

text.

56. The

Tomic Psalter,

f. 202%

has David encountering five

men

standing

beside a

pair

of figures wrapped

in winding-sheets on the ground. Cf. Shepkina, Bolgarskaia

miniatiura (note 54,

supra),

n 54, pi. XV.

57. Moscow, Add. gr. 129, f. 135r (unpublished) ; British Museum, Add. 40731,

f.

223*

: Dufrenne,

U

llustration (note 36,

supra),

p. 65, pi.

59

; Paris,

gr.

20, f.

40v

:

ibid., p.

46,

pi. 46. Cf. Vat.

gr. 1927,

f.

245r

:

De Wald (note

5,

supra),

p. 39-40, pi. LVII.

58. The

condition of

the lower

half of

the

miniature,

both

flaked and

overpainted,

prevents any

certainty

upon

this

point.

59.

The notable

exceptions

are Paris

gr.

20 (note

57,

supra)

and

Munich

slav.

IV,

f.

170v

: Strzygowski

(note

6,

supra),

n

93.

60. Again, the

one certain exception to

the

normal representation of at least one

harp

is Paris

gr.

20, f. 40v. The

image, confined

to the lower left

margin

of the page,

neglects

both

captors

and

trees

and,

therefore,

any

instruments. Harps are seemingly

omitted

from

the scene in the Utrecht Psalter, f.

77r, although

.

.

De

Wald,

The

Illustrations

of

the Utrecht

Psalter,

Princeton

n.d.,

p. 59, pi. CXIX, insists on their

pre

sence.

The instruments in the

Serbian

Psalter, f. 170, which Strzygowski (note 6,

supra),

n 93, supposes to be

whips

('an

roten

Schnuren goldene Geissein (?) hngen') are more

likely

horns of various types.


13/53

292

. CUTLER AND ANNEMARIE WEYL CARR

Indeed the vast majority

of

the more

than 140 small images61 attached

to

the

psalms suggest

that

they were created

directly from the text

rather

than

dependent

upon traditional models. In what follows we have

tried

to

suggest

connections

that

seem

to

exist

between

this

body

of

illustration

in

the

Benaki and other psalters, both eastern and western. But such connect

ions,

where

they

do

exist, must be understood

first

as representing

only a

fraction of that much larger

number

of miniatures entirely unrelated

to

other

illumination and, secondly, as in no way implying a

dependence

on

other cycles. In other words,

despite

some observable

similarities,

Vitr.

34.3 does not fit into any

known

recension of

Psalter

decoration. Most of

its

miniatures

are

entirely independent creations although

our

demonstrat

ion

f this must necessarily

be

very

restricted in

scope.

Psalm 143, for

example, entitled

,

is

traditionally

represented

by

this

archetypal

conflict.

Even

those psalters which

additional

y

llustrate

verses

beyond

the

title do

not

omit

the

battle with

the

giant62.

In contrast,

our

manuscript reserves David and

Goliath for

Ps. 151 63 and

introduces Ps. 143 with

an

image of

the

psalmist as king,

praying

to

an

arc

of heaven

above

a hilly

landscape64

rather than

the

belligerent

shepherd.

In the

same way, David,

who

in

illustrations

of

Ps. 3

is usually pursued

on foot65 or on horseback66 by Absalom and his host, is shown

behind

a

hill,

detached from

the pursuit

and addressing

the

hand of

God

emerging

from

an

arc

(f. 3r). It

is,

of course, arguable whether David is here part of

the

'narrative'

or

a portrait figure

superimposed

upon a

discrete image

of

Absalom's

troop67.

On

the

basis of

other

miniatures,

the latter

interpreta

tionust prevail.

61.

Their

average size is

4.9x7.2

cm.

62.

E.g.

Add. 19352, f. 182 rv :

Der

Nersessian, U

llustration

(note

3,

supra),

p. 56-

57,

fig. 285-286.

63. The Utrecht Psalter

would

seem

to be

the only other

example

where such

a

reserva

tion

s made

:

De

Wald,

Utrecht

Psalter (note

60, supra),

p.

72, pi.

CXLIV.

This miniature

has Goliath already decapitated

and David,

following

I Reg.

17, 51, literally standing

upon him.

64.

This

arrangement,

common

to the

majority

of

the

smaller

miniatures,

was

of

course

not invented for Vitr. 34.3. It is used for example in Dumbarton Oaks

3,

f.

5V

(Der

Nersessian,

Psalter

and

New Testament [note 44, supra],

fig. 4),

where the setting

is, however, an interior

and

the vertical format allows a full-length portrait of the

standing

king.

65. Thus Add. 19352, f.

2V

:

Der

Nersessian,

L'illustration

(note

3,

supra),

fig.

4.

66. Thus Add. 40731, f. 10r

:


(note

36, supra), pi.

48.

67. For example, in

the

Serbian Psalter (Strzygowski [note 6, supra],

nos 14-15),

the pursuer and

his quarry

appear

on opposite pages.


14/53


Two

formulas

involving such

a

portrait

of the

psalmist

are used repeatedl

hroughout

the

manuscript. One

is

exemplified by

the

illustration

to

Ps.

85

(f.

100v,

fig.

19), where

a half-length David

addresses

the bust of

Christ

turned

towards

him

in

an

arc.

Almost

invariably68,

other

psalters

either combine

the praying

king

of the first

(or fifth)

verse

with the nations

that adore

the Lord

in

verse

969, or illustrate both texts in separate

minia

tures70. The

other

convention, used almost as

frequently, is to

endow

the

psalmist with

an

audience

not

strictly required by

the

text. Thus Ps. 11

follows a miniature (f. 12r, fig. 10)

in

which

the

group of listeners

shows

no evidence

of

being

the 'poor'

and

'needy' of verse 6.

Rather, they hear

him predict

the

Resurrection promised to

these unfortunates in

the same

verse.

Thus

the content of the psalm

is

rendered more

economically, if

less precisely,

than in

the

marginal 71 or other72

psalters which

depict

the

Anastasis

at

this

point.

This

substitution

of

a

portrait

for

the

customary

image is

most clearly

expressed at f 21 r (fig. 11)

where David

bows before

an arc

of

heaven where, without exception, both

Eastern

and Western

Psalters

illustrate

the Crucifixion

implied

in Ps. 21, 17-19.

Manifestly, such illustration

depends upon Christian commentary73.

But these miniatures

in

the

Benaki Psalter require no Patristic exegesis.

In

fact,

our

manuscript's general innocence of any

commentary

influence

is one reason

to

doubt

its

connection with traditional schemes of psalter

decoration.

Perhaps

the

only instance in

Vitr.

34.3

where

exegesis

can

be

adduced

without hesitation

occurs

at

f.

31

r (fig. 12) where

the half-length,

almost

frontal

psalmist

holds

a large

imago

clipeata

bearing

the

bust of

Christ

73a. Such medallions

are

common in immediately post-Iconoclastic

manuscripts

in

Athos, Pantocrator

61,

for instance, they are found

in

direct association with Old

Testament figures74. But

the marginal psalters

never

employ the

Christian

clipeus

for Ps.

29, preferring the

Raising of

Lazarus

associated

with

verse

475 to the

exaltation of

the

divine

image

of

68.

The

Stuttgart

Psalter

has only David kneeling

before

the hand

of God

and

no

representation

of

the

nations (Der Stuttgarter Bilderpsalter,

Stuttgart 1968,

I, facsimile,

f. 101r

;

II, B.

Bischoff,

Florentine

Mtherich

et

al.,

Untersuchungen,

p.

118).

69. Thus

Vat.

gr. 1927, f. 157r

:

De Wald, Vat. gr. 1927

(note 5,

supra), pi.

XXXVII.

70. Thus

Add.

19352, f. 1 14tv

: Der

Nersessian,

L'illustration (note 3,

supra), pi. 68-69.

71. E.g. Add. 40731, f. 21V : Dufrenne, U llustration (note 36,

supra),

pi. 21.

72. E.g. Vat. gr. 1927, f. 17r :

De

Wald, Vat. gr. 1927 (note 5,

supra),

pi. VI.

73. Ibid.,p.

10.

73a. G.

Lampakis,

Mmoires (note 9,

supra),

fig. 113.

74. F. 93V (ps.

71)

; leaf in Leningrad ms. 265, f.

4V

(Ps. 109) :

Dufrenne,

L'illustration

(note 36,

supra),

pi. 12, 25.

75.

Athos, Pantocrator

61, f. 29r :

ibid.,

pi. 4

; Add.

19352, f. 31V :

Der Nersessian,

L'illustration (note 3,

supra),

fig.

53.


15/53

294

. CUTLER AND

ANNEMARIE WEYL

CARR

verse

2.

The

particular form that this

takes

in our miniature

clearly,

if

perhaps indirectly, depends upon

the

commentary of Origen who glosses

this

verse

as 6

76.

This

iconographical isolation produced

by

the

repeated

stress

on

author

portraits of David

is

carried farther by a second, distinctive kind of situation

in

which the

Benaki Master,

without the

intervening

presence of commentary,

devised images

that

vary markedly from

the

several

traditions of psalter

illustration. Psalm

68,

for

example, is customarily

represented

in

Byzantine

manuscripts by Christ

cleansing

the

Temple,

illustrating verse 1077. Carolin-

gian works, on

the

other hand,

depict

scenes

generally suggested by the

opening

verses

in

which David

prays

for

redemption of

the

perils of

the

waters rising about him

:

the Stuttgart

Psalter has Jonah

cast

overboard78,

while the Utrecht Psalter

shows

the

Psalmist falling from one of

three

ships

in

the

miniature79.

It

is

not

until the

Gothic

era

in

the

west

that

one

finds

illuminations

even remotely akin to that in Vitr. 34.3

where David

assumes a

frontal

orans attitude, standing half-submerged in

the depths

of a stormy

sea

(f. 76r). There is less reason

to

suspect

the

influence of a

western

model

than

to

suppose

that

our painter has invented a simple,

literal

illustration for verses

3-4. His seeming independence, then, is due

not so much

to

a

deliberate

rejection of established iconography as it

is

to

his

direct

recourse

to

the text

rather than

to any

visual model. The naive,

not

to

say

mechanical, means

by which relevant

illuminations appropriate

the first

lines

of the relevant text

is demonstrated in

the

miniature to

Psalm

128

(f. 152V, fig. 13). Beside David,

in an image

virtually without analogies

in other

manuscripts80,

the trite,

recurrent title of

this group of psalms

(' )

is

inscribed, unhelpful as

an

identification and

supererogatory in

that it

is repeated immediately below

the

frame

of the

picture.

If

the immediate method

by which

our

artist

created

his

images is

by

now clear,

it

does

not

necessarily follow that he was unaware of other deco

rated codices. The problem

is

a

complicated

one, given that close adherence

76.

PG

12,

1292.

77. Thus Athos,

Pantocrator

61, f. 87r :


(note 36, supra),

pi.

11 ; Add.

19352, f. 86V

:

Der Nersessian, L'illustration

(note 3,

supra),

fig.

140.

In

all the marginal psalters, a variety of Christological miniatures succeed this standard

illustration

to

Ps. 68. The

miniature

is missing in Vat. gr. 1927.

78.

Stuttgarter

Bilderpsalter (note

68,

supra), I,

f.

79r

;

II,

p.

105.

79. F. 38 v

:

De

Wald, Utrecht Psalter

(note

60,

supra),

p. 31, pi. LXIII.

80. The winged

demon with a

sickle

to

the

far left of

the miniature recurs

as a

flying

figure in

Vat.

gr. 1927, f. 239r : De Wald, Vat. gr. 1927 (note

5,

supra), pi. LV. Psalm

128 is not illustrated in the marginal psalters.


16/53


295

to

the text lies at the root of most

illumination in

the

'marginal'

psalters as

in Vat. gr. 1927. That no certainty on this point can

be

arrived at by scruti

nizing

any

single miniature is

exemplified

by

the

picture attached to

Ps.

18

(f.

19V)

where

three-quarter

length

figures

of St.

Paul

and

St.

Peter

stand

beneath a much-flaked

arc

in

the

middle

of

the

heavens.

The

Bristol

Psalter81, the

Theodore

Psalter82 and Vat.

gr.

192783

among

many others,

all depict the enthroned

apostles preaching to

the nations as

an

illustration

of verse 5. The

Benaki

miniature could

be

a simplified version of this com

mon tradition and, in particular, of some image closely related

to

that in

Add. 40731 where

only

the two princes of the

apostles

appear. But, since

our

image uniquely

eliminates the

nations and shows

the two

saints stand

ing,his

is

unlikely. The

sense

of

an independent

creation

is strengthened

by the

miniature to

Ps.

41 (f.

47r) where

those Byzantine

psalters

that

illustrate

this

psalm

without

exception

associate

David

with the hart

drink

ing

t

the

fountain. In

Vitr.

34.3 alone David

is omitted,

a

schema

which

in

the light of the

omnipresent Psalmist

elsewhere

in this

manuscript

strongly suggests

that

at least

in

this instance no

model

was followed.

However,

the

evidence

of

two examples,

unconnected

with

the illustration

of

these

psalms

in any other

manuscript84,

suggests that

our

painter here

had another psalter before him as he worked. An artist's mistakes are

sometimes more

revealing

than his successes and such perhaps is

the case

with

the

miniature preceding Ps.

48

(f.

54r).

King David stands before two

figures set

against

a

complex architectural background. To interpret these

two

as

the

Sons

of

Kore

of

the

psalm's

title

is

to

be

left

without

justification

for the

elaborate buildings in

the

background. It

seems more likely

that

they are

the

daughters of Judaea, exulting amid

the

towers and palaces

of

Sion,

copied in

error

from

the

previous

psalm85.

That mistakes of this sort

were made in

the

Benaki

Psalter

is proved

beyond doubt by f. 109

v

(fig.

14).

With the Psalmist as witness, and watched

by Christ

in an arc, an angel plunges

his

lance

into a

human

form half-

covered by turbulent waters by way of illustrating

Ps.

93,1. Add. 19352

illustrates this passage

with

St.

Nestor destroying

Lyaios,

the favourite

gladiator

of

the

emperor

Maximian

seated

nearby86. But

the

tumultuous

81. F. 31

r

:

Dufrenne,

L'illustration (note 36, supra), pi.

49.

82. F.

20r

: Der

Nersessian, L'illustration

(note 3,

supra),

fig.

34-35.

83. F. 29V :

De

Wald,

Vat. gr.

1927 (note 5,

supra),

pi. IX.

84. The

marginal

psalters represent St. John Chrysostom or

some

other

Father with

reference

to

Ps. 48,2.

85. For the miniature attached

to

Ps. 47,

see

p. 299.

86.

F.

125V : Der

Nersessian, V

llustration

(note

3,

supra),

p. 46, fig. 204.


17/53

296

. CUTLER AND ANNEMARIE WEYL CARR

waves through which

the

lance passes and,

above

all,

the fact

that

the

spear-bearer is

winged prevent this

identification.

In fact,

the

scene

is

much

more reminiscent of

the

Miracle of Chonae (depicted in Add. 19352 on

the

recto

side

of

the

page

bearing

St.

Nestor

and Lyaios

on

its

verso)

sug

gested

by Ps. 92,3. Ironically, a

miniature

of St.

Michael averting

the

flood

while

Archippus

witnesses

the

miracle

seems

to have

been

copied as an

illustration of a text declaring that 'the God of

vengeance has

declared

himself. Inaccurate reproduction of a model would

seem

to

be

the only

possible

explanation for this

anomaly in

a manuscript full of anomalies87.

Alone

among

manuscripts,

the Theodore

Psalter can be invoked

for

help with this

minor puzzle.

But

the

scarcity of comparanda

generally

makes

all the more

difficult

the major

problem

of

determining

the type

and

content

of

the

exemplar upon which

the

Benaki Master relied.

Certainly

no single

psalter known today

can

account

for his

selection. Yet,

for

a

significant

number of his images,

resemblances to

several

manuscripts make

it un

likely that his iconography was original and inspired

only

by

the

text.

Some compositions draw readily on traditional psalter

forms. Thus

no specific

model is predicated by

the

pose frequently assigned to

David

in Vitr. 34.3

where he stands

with

head

and hands raised towards

the

divine presence.

This

is common enough in

the illustration of both

Psalms

and Odes

in

the

earlier marginal psalters. But it is especially

favoured

in Add. 19352 where

this stereotyped formula

of

David

praying to

an icon

of Christ occurs

nine times, while saints in this attitude and context

number more

than

twenty-five88.

Yet, in other ways,

it

seems as if

our

painter

deliberately

set his face

against

the

imagery of

the

marginal

psalters. Foremost among these must

be

counted the appearance

of

David

in scenes

where the Theodore and

Barberini Psalters depict a

saint.

Where, for

example, these manuscripts

illustrate David's prayer for release from

the

'evil man'

(Ps. 139,

2) with

St.

Hermolaos menaced

by a young soldier89, the

Benaki Psalter

retains

the

warrior

but

returns

to

David as

the

threatened figure (f. 161 v). So, too,

87.

Such mistakes are not unknown in earlier

and

finer

manuscripts. One recalls the

miniature

to Ps. 51 in

the Theodore

Psalter itself,

where, as

Der Nersessian points out

{ibid., p. 68-69, fig.

106), the painter misunderstood the scene

of

Doeg informing

Saul

of David's departure in some such

manuscript

as

the Khludov Psalter

and

introduced

an extraneous

figure

of David belonging to the

previous

psalm.

88.

Cf. Suzy

Dufrenne, Deux

chefs-d'uvre 'de

la miniature du xie sicle, CA 17,

1967,

p.

183.

89. Vat.

Barb.

gr. 372, f. 226r (unpublished) ; Add. 19352, f.

178V

: Der Nersessian,

L'illustration (note

3, supra), fig. 281.


18/53


for Ps.

63, 2,

the Psalmist praying

to

an arc

is

approached by a

bent, diabol

ical

igure

(f. 69V)

where

Add. 19352 has

a

demon

assault St.

Theodore

of Studios90. A quarter of a century

ago,

L. Maries pointed

to

the 'dviation

dans

un

sens

hagiographique

de

la

srie

davidique91'

apparent

in

the

eleventh-century psalters. It is

equally

evident that

Vitr.

34.3 represents a

reversion

to

the

main stream even though

we

may

not

be able to identify

all of its sources.

That

this return to an older iconography is

not

peculiar to

the Benaki

Psalter is

demonstrated

by comparing

the

illustrations that we have just

considered

with those in

Vat. gr. 1927. For

example,

the Vatican

manuscript

renders

the

'evil man' of Ps.

139

as a military

figure

towering over

the

kneel

ing

avid92.

Again, in

many

other

respects the

'literal' psalter stands

closer to

our

manuscript

than does Add. 19352

or

its marginal forerunners.

Where

the latter

illustrate

the

first

verse

of

the

psalm

for

Solomon

(Ps.

71)

with

frontal images of

the

young

king

alone before

an icon

of Christ94,

Vat.

gr.

1927,

like

the Benaki

Psalter

(f. 80r, fig. 15) has

both

King David

and his

son

praying

to an

arc

above

them95.

David

and Solomon

in

the Vatican

Psalter

occupy less

than one

fourth

of

the

picture,

the

rest being devoted to images evoked by later

verses

in

the

psalm.

In contrast, the

half-length

figures of

the

kings and of Christ

in

the arc

to their right fill

up

the

miniature in Vitr. 34.3.

On the

other hand,

when

the

composition in Vat. gr. 1927 is

simple

as in

the case

of Ps. 141

where

the

sole

subject

is

David

hiding

in

the

cave96

the

Benaki

Psalter

reproduces it in its entirety. These considerations suggest

the

principle

governing the

relationship between

the

images that exhibit some

connection

in

these two manuscripts. Our painter selects from and simplifies

the

often

complex iconography of Vat.

gr. 1927.

Thus, on f. 1 14r,

the

Psalmist points

to

the

Lord

in a mandorla flanked by cherubim as

required

by Ps.

98,1.

90. F. 78' :

ibid., fig.

125.

91. L'irruption des saints

dans

l'illustration des psautiers byzantins,

An.

Boll. 68,

1950,

p.

159.

See now Der

Nersessian, L'illustration

(note 3,

supra),

p.

89-90.

92.

F.

249'

:

De

Wald,

Vat.

gr.

1927

(note

5,

supra),

p.

40, pi.

LVIII.

De

Wald's

alternative

interpretation

of

the

crowned

figure

in

Roman

fighting

garb

as

Saul

is

more

probable than his

first suggestion that it

is

Goliath.

Not only

does this

soldier

physiogno-

mically resemble Saul

elsewhere

in

the

manuscript (cf. f.

93%

100), but there

is

no

reason

for

the Philistine

to be crowned. The

Stuttgart

Psalter (note

68, supra),

I, f.

155r, illustrates

verse

5 with a heavily-armed soldier dragging the Psalmist away

from

the hand

of

God.

93.

, , .

94.

Athos, Pantocrator

61, f. 93V

:

Dufrenne,

L'illustration (note

36, supra), pi. 12

;

Add. 19352, f. 91V : Der Nersessian, L'illustration (note 3,

supra),

fig.

149.

95. F.

126V :

De

Wald,

Vat.

gr. 1927 (note 5,

supra),

pi. XXX.

96.

Ibid., p. LIX.


19/53

298 . CUTLER

AND ANNEMARIE WEYL CARR

The

theophany

(but not David) appears in

the

'literal'

psalter97

but

its

attendant figures and

especially Moses

and Aaron worshipping at

the

Lord's footstool,

all

called

for

in

subsequent

verses,

are

suppressed in

the

Benaki

Psalter.

Yet

the

Benaki

reductions

are

by

no

means

always

in

favour

of

the

title

or the

first

verse

of

the

psalm. Moreover,

they

are often

made

at

the

expense of

iconographical

lucidity. Vat. gr. 1927,

for

example,

illustrates

Ps.

34

in two registers,

the

upper

zone

containing

David

praying

(verse 1) as he flees on horseback from a group of

riders

while,

to

the

far

left, another group fall from their stumbling horses (verse 3)98. Our

m a

nuscript

has

only

a half-length David

praying

as he

stands

before a horseman

slumped across the body

of his fallen mount (f. 37r"). Similarly,

the

other

is filled with

a

large group

of

the Philistines whom the

Psalmist mentions

in

verse 4100.

Without

the

connecting presence

of David,

who dominates

the

miniature

in the

Vatican

Psalter1,

the

picture

is

scarcely intelligible.

It is evident that the

Benaki

miniatures are

not

'reduced' from those

of

Vat.

gr.

1927.

Even where a

close relationship is evident

(and

this is far

from true of the

majority

of the

pictures)

too many

divagations separate

the

content

of the

two

cycles

for this

to be

possible.

At most

we can

suggest

that in some instances

Vitr.

34.3 preserves

the vestiges

of a complex icono

graphical tradition

which,

with

further

accretions and omissions, gave

rise

to

the Vatican Psalter.

The

antiquity of this tradition

may

be

gauged

from

our

manuscript's

similarities

to

the Stuttgart Psalter which, although

its

core

of illustrations

may

revert

to an early

Western

prototype, has demonstrable connections

with pre-Iconoclastic psalter decoration in

the

East2. Where

Vitr.

34.3

is nearer to the Carolingian manuscript than to any Byzantine

psalter,

we

may

be fairly sure that it draws on such a tradition. This is clearly

the

97.

F.

179V : ibid.,

pi. XLII. Here the lower

half of a

mandorla contains the bust

of

Christ

as against

the complete

aureole containing

the Lord enthroned in

Vitr.

34.3. The

Stuttgart Psalter

(note

68, supra),

I, f.

112V, has the enthroned

lord of our

miniature

but also the complement of attendants depicted in Vat. gr. 1927.

98.

F.

57r

:

De

Wald,

Vat.

gr.

1927 (note

5,

supra), pi.

XVI.

99.

A

different

'selection'

occurs in Baltimore W. 733, f. 6V

(Dorothy Miner,

The

Monastic Psalter of the

Walters Art

Gallery, Late Classical

and

Medieval Studies

in

Honor

of A.M. Friend, Jr., Princeton

1955,

p. 239, fig. 1),

where David

standing in

prayer is combined

with

the slaying

of his

enemies

rather

than

with

the horsemen

upright

or

fallen.

100.

G.

Lampakis, Mmoires

(note 9, supra), fig.

112.

1. F. 159r : De Wald, Vat. gr. 1927 (note

5,

supra), pi. XXXVII.

2.

See Florentine

Mtherich in Stuttgarter Bilderpsalter (note 68,

supra),

II, p.

151-

222 and review by E. Kitzinoer, Art Bulletin 51, 1969, especially p.

395.


20/53


case

in

the

illustration to

Ps.

109

(f.

130,

fig. 16). The

Khludov Psalter3

and Add. 193524 illustrate

verse

1 with

David

standing before the enthroned

Christ,

but

the

Benaki Psalter,

like Stuttgart5, shows Christ seated beside

the

Ancient

of

Days. The

Son

is

beardless and

placed

outside

the

mandorla

that encloses

the cross-nimbed

Father. These

lesser iconographical

details

distinguish

our

miniature from

that in

the Carolingian

psalter

which nonet

heless, in

content

as in composition, provides the closest surviving analogue

possible. That the type

is

an ancient

one

may

be inferred from

a

passage

in

Augustine

which suggests

that, by the early fifth

century,

Ps.

109, 1 had

already given rise

to

representations of

the

Father and Son enthroned

beside

each other6.

Elsewhere,

Yitr. 34.3

seems to

simplify

the

tradition

preserved

in

the

Stuttgart

Psalter

much

in

the

manner that

it attenuates

the

elaborate icono

graphy

of

Vat.

gr.

1927.

The

blazing

theophany

of

Ps.

96

to

which

the

Psalmist

pays

homage

in

the

Carolingian Psalter7

is

reduced

to

an

image

of David gazing at Christ in an

arc

of heaven (f.

112V).

The

fire that goes

before the

Lord

(verse 3)

is retained

but

the enemies

consumed

in

it, the

personifications,

and

the angels

that support

the mandorla8 are all gone.

Again,

as

in

its

relations with

the Vatican

Psalter,

Benaki s simplifications

sometimes

imperil the

sense of

a

miniature which, in

its

Stuttgart counterp

art

s

entirely comprehensible9. The Carolingian

manuscript

illustrates

quite literally

the kings

of

Ps.

47, 4 who

come

to wonder

at 'the city

of

the

great

King...

on

the

mountains

of

Sion...

where

God

is

known

in

her

palaces'.

In

our psalter

the subsequent verses

(5-6),

where the kings

grow

afraid of what

they

see, are

suggested

by

their

proskynesis. But by denying

them

any visible

city

or

palaces, the Benaki Master renders

their fear

unjustified and their attitude meaningless (f. 53r).

The

pervasive presence of David

dominates

this miniature as

it

does

the

image attached

to

Ps. 121.

The

Stuttgart Psalter miniature follows

3. F.

110v

(unpublished).

4.

F.

151V :

Der

Nersessian,

V

llustration (note 3, supra), fig. 243.

5.

Stuttgarter

Bilderpsalter

(note

68, supra), I,

f. 127V

;

II,

p.

131

(with literature

and

discussion). Both

Persons

are enclosed by figure-eight mandorlas but details of the Christ

are

difficult

to discern since the figure is largely (and deliberately) rubbed.

6. De

civ. Dei, XVII, 17.

7.

Stuttgarter Bilderpsalter (note

68,

supra), I, f. lllr.

8. The

only Byzantine psalter

to

illustrate these verses,

Vat.

gr. 1927,

f.

177r

(E. T.

De

Wald,

The Illustrations

in

the

Manuscripts

of the Septuagint,

Vaticanus graecus 1927,

Princeton

1941, pi. XLI), retains the enemies and the angels in a much more

complex

scene.

9. Stuttgarter Bilderpsalter (note 68, supra),

I,

f.

60r.


21/53


22/53


301

common to several

miniatures.

At f.

50% for

example,

the Psalmist's

decla

ration to

'the

king'

(Ps.

44, 2)17 is

made

by

David

deferring to

Christ,

who stands to his left

and blesses him

with

His

right

hand outstretched as

as

in

f.

46r.

Although

the

Lord

is

to

David's

right

in

the

Sinai

Psalter,

only

this

manuscript

illustrates the

text chosen by

the

Benaki Master.

The

other marginal

psalters depict the

Annunciation18, other Mariological

scenes,

or

David treading upon his enemies19 suggested by later

verses

of the

psalm.

The

same

composition and

the

same

raised

right

hand are

used

to illustrate

Christ's

scattering of a group of

winged demons

at

f. 73

v (Ps.

67, 2). This

psalm

is not

represented

in

Sinai

48,

but the

marginal

psalters generally

here depict the

Anastasis20. There

is

no indication

in our

miniature

that

the

scene

is

set

in

Limbo.

However,

it

is

clear

that

the

Benaki

Master was

fascinated

by diabolical figures of a very particular type.

The

transgressors

and

the

wicked of

Ps.

35, 36 and 38

all

represented as belligerent nude

demons,

male and female, wearing pointed hats

or

helmets. The

first of

these,

at

f. 39r, shows

David praying while a

nude

woman

with

long blonde

hair addresses him from a bed21.

The

sex of this figure

is

surprising given

that

the demon

is male

according

to

the psalm;

in

the corresponding minia

turen Sinai 48

the

transgressor is represented as

a

warrior leaning on

his

shield

and

holding

his

hand

close

to

his

mouth22.

This gesture is transferred to

David

in our Psalter's

illustration

to

Ps.

38

(f.

43V,

fig.

18).

As

in

the

Stuttgart23

and

Utrecht24 Psalters,

it

literally

r

Documents

1976 Benaki Psalter