Psalter
Texts and Images
Psalms 1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 and 109 introduce the eight groups into which most 13th-century French Psalters were divided for daily recitation. These eight Psalms open with historiated initials painted on highly burnished gold grounds by a single artist (Hand B). Most of them show King David in prayer and scenes illustrating the Psalms’ opening verses. Ordinary Psalms open with fully illuminated ornamental initials – pink or blue letters on gold grounds, or gold letters on pink and blue grounds, with green or black added in initials painted by two of the assistants (Hands 3 and 5 respectively).
David praying and playing music (Psalm 80)
David prays to God in the upper part of the initial E. Below, he plays the psaltery, surrounded by bells, a fiddle and a harp. The musical theme is suggested by the opening verses of Psalm 80, written in gold on the right and continuing beneath the image, Exultate deo adiutori nostro, iubilate deo Jacob. Sumite psalmum et date tympanum, psalterium iocundum cum cythara (‘Rejoice to God our help: sing aloud to the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the harp’). The initial was painted by Hand B.