Golden Bible - Biblia Pauperum

The Golden Picture Bible “Biblia Pauperum”

A codex arose at the beginning of the 15th century in an unusual form, which told the stories of the Holy Scripture in captioned pictures. The illustrated book showed expensively gilded scenes from the New Testament, which were accompanied by clarifying images from the Old Testament. The work contains 93 images of gold and silver bedecked miniatures, of which there are three on each page. The middle image always contained an event from the New Testament that are framed by drawings of busts of the prophets. Depictions from the Old Testament are to be found the right and left of these scenes, respectively, that are to be considered as forerunners for the New Testament events. An example of this is found in the fourth page of the book, depicting the flight of Mary and Joseph with Jesus as a child. To the left of this scene one finds an image that shows the flight of Joseph to his uncle Laban, and to the right, an image of St. Michael as he aided David in his flight from Saul. In this way, an explanatory correlation between the biblical stories of the New and Old Testaments was manufactured.

The Master Remains Unknown

The Golden Bible was most likely created by an artist, who was active at the court of Count Albrecht von Bayern-Holland and his second wife Margaretha von Kleve in the early years of the 15th century. Judging by remarkable similarities in the artwork, it is very likely to have been the same artist who is responsible for the creation of Margaretha’s book of hours, it cannot be a mere coincidence. The illuminator wanted his work to have a very specific purpose. Heretics, such as the Cathars, which attracted more and more followers at the end of the Middle Ages, were to be confronted with such a fine biblical text. Their dangerous ideas, which brought the prevailing Christian world view into question, were to be refuted using an artistically appealing manner.

A Turbulent History

After the picture Bible was finished, it disappeared for nearly three centuries and its abode in this time has still not been fully clarified today. Its name is recorded in a 16th century book, namely the Ratclyff Boke. It was verifiably transmitted from this lord to an English noblemen in Lancashire. A descendant of this family gifted the book in the 18th century to King George III. At this time, the bible was furnished with a red leather binding from Morocco and gold embossing. In 1823, the entire library of King George III was given over to the state by his son. Today the book is to be found in the British Library in London.

Definitely Not a Poor Man’s Bible

The codex only has the affixed name Biblia Pauperum through a chance accident. Although the poor at the end of the Middle Ages were still mostly illiterate, illustrated books were used to disseminate biblical texts. The Golden Bible can hardly be considered a work that was intended for the lower classes because of its opulent gilding. The magnificent, vividly colored, and richly bedecked with gold and silver miniatures evince the talent of its master and indicate a princely commissioner. The large format of the biblical scenes is particularly appealing, for which the painter chose a width of 18 centimeters and a height of nearly 40 centimeters for his picture bible. This format is truly unusual. The long, landscape formatted pages are particularly enjoyable for the modern beholder to read and discover.