MINIATURIST, German
(active 11th century in southern Germany)

Heidelberg Psalter

11th century
Manuscript (Pal. lat. 39.)
Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican

This manuscript was written and decorated in southern Germany in the eleventh century, but additions datable to the late thirteenth century were made to it. It is a Book of Psalms which was considered in the Middle Ages to be the most important book of the Old Testament. The manuscript comes from the Monastery of Saints Michael and Stephen in Heidelberg.

The decoration consists of initials and a large miniature on folio 44v representing David and four named musicians in front of the Ark of the Covenant, set against a purple ground. The composition is divided into two levels.