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St Jerome, Commentaries on the Bible, Florence, 1488

17 December 2008

Frontispiece to the introduction to the Commentary on St Matthew’s Gospel (detail), with a miniature of St Jerome surrounded, in the borders, by the four Evangelists, King Matthias, and Christ in majesty. In the centre of the lower border, the royal coat of arms

This manuscript, produced in Florence in 1488, contains St Jerome’s commentaries on the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark and on the Old Testament Book of Koheleth (Ecclesiastes). These are rounded off by shorter pseudepigraphical and apocryphal writings. The codex formed part of the famous humanistic library created by Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, who made Vienna his residence between 1485 and 1490. During this period he commissioned a number of luxury manuscripts for his celebrated collection. The manuscript includes a portrait of the King, his coat of arms and imprese [badge, or device].

Frontispiece to the introduction to the Commentary on St Matthew’s Gospel (<i>detail</i), with a miniature of St Jerome surrounded, in the borders, by the four Evangelists, King Matthias, and Christ in majesty. In the centre of the lower border, the royal coat of arms

Images and text from The World’s Most Beautiful Bibles: 25th- anniversary edition (Taschen, £25; 978-3-8365-0299-3)

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