On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Hebrew Bible: Artist’s Colophon and Arms of Castile-León (fols. 448v-449)
Illuminated by Joseph the Frenchman
Not on view
Few medieval manuscripts mention the name of the artist responsible for their decoration, but this bible devotes an entire page to the signature of the illuminator. Playfully transforming the Hebrew letters into images of intertwined animals, he writes, "I, Joseph the Frenchman, illustrated and completed this book."
The right-hand page, which concludes the grammatical compendium that accompanies the sacred text, displays a pair of six-pointed stars enclosing a lion and a castle—the respective symbols of the northern Spanish kingdoms of Leon and Castile, where the patron may have lived.
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