MINIATURIST, Spanish
(active 1280s)

Cantigas de Santa María, Codex of the Musicians, folio 71v

after 1280
Manuscript (RBMECat b-I-2), 404 x 274 mm
Real Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, El Escorial

The Códice de los músicos (Codex of the Musicians) is the most complete manuscript of Alfonso X's "Cantigas Project", which occupied most of his reign (1252-1284). He considered it an important part of both his political survival and his personal salvation.

The picture shows folio 71v containing a miniature, a poem and sheet music. The miniature depicts two figures playing the psaltery, a medieval string instrument plucked with a quill plectrum or with the fingers.

View the miniature