Stavelot Bible

The Stavelot Bible is an illuminated Bible manuscript in two volumes. [cite book | last = Dynes | first = Wayne Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Illuminations of the Stavelot Bible | publisher = Education-Garla | date = 1978 | location = New York City | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-8240-3225-X] It was produced in the Stavelot monastery, in the Mosan region of modern Belgium, and required four years to complete, 1093-1097. It is one of the three major Mosan manuscripts of the last quarter of the 11th century, the other two being the Lobbes Bible and a manuscript of Josephus, all of them written by the same scribes.cite book | last = Dodwell | first = Charles Reginald | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Pictorial Arts of the West, 800-1200 | publisher = Yale University Press | date = 1993 | location = New Haven | pages = 269-271 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=xzZjo3YSLbwC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-300-06493-4] For many years it resided in the royal library at Bamberg, until it moved to its current home in the collection of the British Library, in London. [cite book | last = Honour | first = Hugh | authorlink = | coauthors = Fleming, John | title = The Visual Arts: A History, 7th ed. | publisher = Pearson Education | date = 2005 | location = Upper Saddle River | pages = 372-373 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-13-193507-0]

Both volumes of the book were written by two Benedictine monks of Stavelot, the calligraphers Brother Ernest (or Ernesto) and Brother Goderannus.cite book | last = Bradley | first = John William | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A Dictionary of Miniaturists, Illuminators, Calligraphers, and Copyists | publisher = Bernard Quaritch | date = 1888 | location = | pages = 46-47 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=n4wFAAAAMAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn = ] However some scholars have claimed as many as four or five hands were responsible for the artwork. At the very least, it is believed that the image of "Christ in Majesty" (shown to the right) was contributed by a third artist. [cite book | last = Backhouse | first = Janet | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting | publisher = University of Toronto Press | date = 1998 | location = Toronto | pages = 40-41 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=MHvRyHtjzBIC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-8020-4346-1] It has even been suggested that it is a later addition to the manuscript, considering its advanced technique for the time, although most scholars find this theory dubious, given that other artists of the region were known to demonstrate similar precocity at the time.

The illustrations show the influences of Ottonian, Carolingian, and Byzantine art. The Byzantine influence on the illustrations in the Stavelot Bible is sometimes credited to the participation of local partisans in the Crusades, particularly under Godfrey of Bouillon. However, such influences are generally thought to predate this, leaving the origin of such designs in the region up to speculation.

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