The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 27, 2023

Title Page of St. Gregory's "Moralia": Job Visited by His Three Friends (above) and Gregory the Great and His Deacon Peter (below)

c. 1143–1178

probably by Abbot Frowin

(Swiss)

Switzerland, Monastery of Engelberg, 12th century

Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum

Sheet: 27.3 x 19 cm (10 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.); Framed: 52.4 x 39.7 cm (20 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.); Matted: 48.9 x 36.2 cm (19 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1955.74

Location

not on view

Description

This leaf originally formed the title page of a four-volume Moralia (Commentary on the Book of Job) by Gregory the Great, pope and father of the Latin Church. The books still survive in the library of the Monastery of Engelberg, near Lucerne. Both the copying and illumination of the books are attributed to the hand of Engelberg's greatest abbot, Frowin, who ruled from 1143 to 1178. Frowin seemed to be responsible, either as a writer, illuminator, or donor, for nearly 30 manuscripts still preserved at that monastery.

Provenance
André Hachette, Paris
Monastery Library, Engelberg, Switzerland
-1955
[Heinrich Eisemann, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art]
1955-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 102 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 51 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 51 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 57 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 134-135, no. 44
Bernasconi, Marina, Christoph Flüeler, and Brigitte Roux. Trésors enluminés de Suisse: manuscrits sacrés et profanes. 2020, 114. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 114, fig. 7.
Exhibition history

University Art Gallery, University of California: "Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts" April 24-June 8, 1963, no. 3, pl. V.

Pages From Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (April 24-June 8, 1963).

Scriptorium: The Illuminated Book in Medieval Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-February 2, 1992).

Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).

Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).

Devotion and Leaning in the Middle Ages- (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1955.74