Christ heals the Paralytic

Artist/Maker

DatesMade: Made ca 1300

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 14,6 x 14,5 cm h x w x d: Ram 42 x 32 x 3 cm

Inventory numberNMB 1713

Other titlesTitle (sv): Kristus botar en lam man Title (en): Christ heals the Paralytic Title (en): Gospel Book from Palermo Alternative title: Evangelistarum

DescriptionDescription: NMB 1713 A cutting from a gospel book made in Palermo. [Palermo, c.1300] Catalogue raisonné: NMB 1713 A cutting from a gospel book made in Palermo. [Palermo, c.1300] Physical Description MATERIAL: Gouache and shell on parchment. DIMENSIONS: 146 × 145 mm. NUMBER OF LEAVES: 1. FOLIATION: Unknown RULING: Ruling visible. LANGUAGE: No language visible. SCRIPT: No script visible. RUBRICATION: No rubrics visible. Text No text visible. Sister leaves 1. Florence, Uffizi Museum GDS, 12524 [Santarelli 32]. Decoration The scene depicted on the NMB 1713 fragment is taken from a scene from the synoptic gospels (Matthew 9:1–8, Mark 2:1–12, and Luke 5:17–26) and is known as The Healing of the Paralytic. In this passage of the Gospels, Christ was in a location that was probably the town of Capernaum, a fishing settlement on the Sea of Galilee. So many people had gathered in a house to hear him teach that there was no space for a paralyzed man to enter. The paralyzed man was then dramatically given a chance to enter. The direct passage that the artist was referring to was either Luke 5:19 ‘And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went up upon the roof and let him down through the tiles with his bed into the midst before Christ’ or Mark 2:4 ‘And when they could not offer him unto him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was: and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay’. Christ then told the man that his sins were forgiven and to take up his bed and walk to his house. Some of the teachers of the law who were in the house thought this was blasphemy, as only God can forgive sins. Christ then said that the Son of Man could forgive sins, and the paralyzed man got up, took his bed with him, and then walked back to his house. The style of this miniature is typical of the Byzantine-influenced art of early 14th-century Sicily. The scene occurs within a large house, with a tall orange tower with windows and a gold-tipped dome to the right and a smaller orange tower with a light red dome to the left. The house has a dark red tiled roof on top of which are kneeling two men. One on the left wears a white tunic and red boots, while the one on the right wears a blue tunic and white boots. Both men are beardless, which shows they are young, which is understandable considering the physical activity they must undertake in this scene. Each young man holds a rope leading down into the house and is connected to the bed containing the paralytic. The house is painted green on the inside and divided in two by a Corinthian pillar, which is capped with gold. There are two long white windows or possibly panels on each side of the pillar and two groups of people, also one on each side. On the left-hand side sits Christ with long hair and a beard, the physically most prominent person in this scene, indicating his importance. He sits on a golden chair with a red cushion and wears blue and white robes. He is crowned with a golden halo which is marked out with a cross in red. Christ outstretches his right hand towards the paralyzed man while his left hand grasps his robes. Behind Christ stand three disciples with a door behind them leading into the small tower. One of the disciples is almost obscured and only the head and shoulders of a second one can be seen. He wears red robes and has a beard. The third disciple is beardless, which could indicate that he is John the Evangelist. This disciple wears green and white robes and touches the back of Christ in support of him. On the right side of the scene, the paralytic is sitting up in a golden bed with green blankets. This bed has been lowered down by the two young men on the roof. The paralytic, who has a beard and wears a red tunic with blue boots, sits up and gestures toward Christ with both hands. His legs are exposed, and the artist has skilfully indicated how withered away they are by his paralysis, especially his protruding knees. Standing behind him are three figures who mirror the disciples, just as the paralytic mirrors Christ. These wear blue and white robes, like Christ, and must be the teachers of law indicated in the passage. One of the teachers is without beard and is the junior member of the three. The other two are bearded, and one, in particular, is the most senior of the teachers. He wears a red head scarf and has golden bracelets on his right arm, indicating Christ's miraculous healing of the paralyzed man. Provenance Parent volume Unknown Present leaf 1. Purchased in 1957 from H. P. Kraus Inc., New York. Exhibited 1. Copenhagen, National Museum, Gyldne Böger, April-May 1952. 2. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Gyllenne böcker, May-September 1952. 3. Athens, Zappeion Exhibition Hall, Byzantine Art: A European Art. 9th. Exhibition of the Councils of Europe, April-June 1964. 4. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter, December 1987-March 1988. 5. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), March 2004-July 2004. Commentary The cutting NMB 1713 was originally part of a luxury gospel manuscript of which one other part survives in the Uffizi Museum in Florence. This other fragment shows Christ Healing Saint Peter’s Mother-in-law. Buchthal (1965) and Daneu Lattanzi (1968) recognised that the models for these scenes had come from the late 12th-century mosaic cycle executed by Byzantine artisans in the Cathedral of Monreale, just outside Palermo. The choice of these not-so-common scenes indicates that the gospel book was richly illuminated. The rich illuminations and selection of the Monreale Cathedral mosaics as exemplars have led Backman (1995) to suggest that it was a royal commission under the period of King Frederick III of Sicily (r.1295-1337) who was a sponsor of the arts. 1337. The fragments (Evans 2004) come from the same workshop as several other manuscripts. These are the Morgan Library's Glazier Bible, a copy of Peter Comestor's Historia Scholastica in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Palermo, a Leggendario di santi held in Turin, a Vitae patrum in the Vatican and two cuttings from an Old Testament manuscript held in the Getty Museum. Kren (1997) has suggested that all these manuscripts were made by Greeks working in a workshop in Palermo. The support that Frederick III gave Greek monasteries in Sicily during his reign indicates that this hypothesis is probable. Bibliography Abel, Ulf, and Nils Göran Hökby (eds.), Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1987), no. 23, pp. 34-35. Backman, Clifford R., The Decline and Fall of Medieval Sicily: Politics, Religion, and Economy in the Reign of Frederick III, 1296-1337 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). Buchthal, Hugo, ‘Some Sicilian Miniatures of the Thirteenth Century’ in Miscellanea pro arte: Hermann Schnitzler zur Vollendung des 60. Lebensjahres am. 13. Januar 1965, ed. by Peter Bloch and Joseph Hoster (Düsseldorf: F. Schwann, 1965), pp. 185-90, pls. XCVl.1-2. Buchthal, Hugo, ‘Early Fourteenth-Century Illuminations from Palermo’ in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 20, (1966), pp. 103-118. Daneu Lattanzi, Angela, Lineamenti di storia della miniatura in Sicilia (Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1968), fig. 94. Demus, Otto, Byzantine Art and the West (New York: New York University Press, 1970), p. 154, fig. 168. Evans, Helen C. (ed.), Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557) (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004), nos. 283-285, pp. 473-476. Kitzinger, Ernst, I mosaici del periodo normanno in Sicilia, vol. 5, ll duomo di Monreale: I mosaici delle navate (Palermo: Accademia nazionale di scienze, lettere e arti di Palermo, 1996), p. 38, figs. B-C. Kren, Thomas et al., Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Illuminated Manuscripts (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997). Loerke, William C., ‘The Monumental Miniature’ in The Place of Book Illumination in Byzantine Art (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975), pp. 61-97, fig. 3. Nordenfalk, Carl, Bokmålningar från medeltid och renässans i Nationalmusei samlingar (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1979), no. 19, pp. 80-81. Office of the Minister to the Prime Minister of the Greek Government, Byzantine Art: A European Art. 9th. Exhibition of the Councils of Europe (Athens: Zappeion Exhibition Hall, 1964), p. 356, fig. 384. Pace, Valentino, ‘Pittura bizantina nell ‘Italia meridionale (secoli XI-XIV)’ in I Bizantini in Italia, ed. by Guglielmo Cavallo (Milan: Garzanti-Scheiwiller 1982), 429-94, p. 456, fig. 406. Sandgren, Eva Lindqvist, Illuminated Manuscripts in Swedish Collections, https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/resultList.jsf?dswid=7830&p=1&searchType=EXTENDED&sortString=creationYear_sort_asc&noOfRows=10&af=%5B%22ARCHIVE_ORG_ID_facet%3A67%22%5D&query=&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22HOST%22%3A%22alvin-record%3A471052%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D Research project 2022-2023, Illuminated Manuscript, Christian Etheridge, Art Historian.

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialParchment, Tempera, Gold (Metal)

External links