Walters Ms. W.526, Gospels Gospel Book scribe Theodoulos Θεόδουλος Principal cataloger Parpulov, Georgi R. Cataloger Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934 Editor Herbert, Lynley Copy editor Dibble, Charles Contributor Bockrath, Diane Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Noel, William Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Conservator Owen, Linda Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.

 This volume is primarily remarkable for its excellently preserved early (but not original) binding, as well as the peculiar style of its miniatures. The manuscript opens with an unusual, icon-like prefatory image of the Virgin and Child, possibly added at an early stage for use in private devotion, and is followed by Evangelist portraits facing ornate headpieces. These illuminations are important examples of non-Constantinopolitan Byzantine art. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.526 The primary language in this manuscript is Greek, Ancient (to 1453). 1r - 259v Gospel Book Fols. 2r–3r: chapters list for the Gospel of Matthew; fols. 4r–72v: Gospel of Matthew; fols. 73r–v: chapters list for the Gospel of Mark; fols. 75r–120r: Gospel of Mark; fols. 120v–122r: chapters list for the Gospel of Luke; fols. 123r–199v: Gospel of Luke; fol. 200r: Chapters list for the Gospel of John; fols. 202r–256r: Gospel of John; fol. 256r–v: verses in praise of the Evangelist John; fol. 256v: note on Gospel readings; fol. 257r: list of Gospel readings for important feasts (text defective at the beginning); fols. 257r–259r: list of Gospel readings for the immovable feasts Πόνος Θεοδούλου καὶ Θεοῦ Λόγου λόγοι. Εὔχεσθε πάντες ἐμοῖ τῷ παναθλίῳ ἱερομονάχῳ. Ponos Theodoulou kai Theou Logou logoi. Euchesthe pantes emoi to panathlio hieromonacho. Work of Theodoulos and words of God the Logos. Pray, all of you, for me the most wretched hieromonk.

Medium-weight parchment

 Foliation: i+25816.8 11.0 11.2 6.8 Foliated in pen (probably nineteenth-century) at top right; fol. 192 missing, though no text lacking

1(2,-2), 2(2), 3-4(8), 5(8,-3), 6-24(8), 25(4), 26-27(8), 28(2), 29-35(8), 36(2) In Greek numbers on interior corners at the beginning of each quire and on exterior corners at the end; probably added in the sixteenth or seventeenth century None Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 2(2), 4(3), 12(4), 20(5), 27(6), 35(7), 43(8), 51(9), 59(10), 67(11), 75(12), 83(13), 91(14), 99(15), 107(16), 115(17), 123(18), 131(19), 139(20), 147(21), 155(22), 163(23), 171(24), 179(25), 183(26), 191(27), 200(28), 202(29), 210(30), 218(31), 226(32), 234(33), 242(34), 250(35), 258(36)

 One hand throughout the manuscript; on fols. 257r–259r the script changes, as the characters become smaller and abbreviations numerous, but the hand is most likely still the same Five full-page miniatures; incipits of Gospels adorned with geometric and foliate headpieces; chapter lists marked with ornamental headbands; rubrics in light brown; text in dark brown ink Upper board outside Blind-tooled leather over wooden boards

This is not the original binding that this manuscript received after it had been copied, but it is of early date (probably from the sixteenth century) and is remarkably well preserved.

 The Virgin and Child Full-page miniature

The inscription reads "Mother of God" in Greek.

In style, the image is similar to an icon at the Benaki Museum in Athens (inv. 41420) and may, like it, date to the fourteenth century.

This is a very unusual subject for a pictorial frontispiece to a Gospel Book, and must have served as a devotional image.

 Chapter list for the Gospel of Matthew Ornamented headband Evangelist Matthew Full-page miniature

The inscription reads "St. Matthew" in Greek.

As usual, the Evangelist is shown in the act of writing his Gospel.

The stocky proportions of the figure and muted colors are typical of late thirteenth-century Byzantine art.

 Title page of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 1:1-3 Ornamented headpiece Chapter list for the Gospel of Mark Ornamented headband Evangelist Mark Full-page miniature

The inscription reads "St. Mark" in Greek.

 Title page of the Gospel of Mark Mark 1:1-4 Ornamented headpiece Chapter list for the Gospel of Luke Ornamented headband Evangelist Luke Full-page miniature Title page for the Gospel of Luke Luke 1:1-4 Ornamented headpiece Chapter list for the Gospel of John Ornamented headband Evangelist John Full-page miniature

The inscription reads "St. John the Theologian" in Greek.

 Title page of the Gospel of John John 1:1-7 Ornamented headpiece

Perhaps sixteenth century; tooled dark red goatskin over squared wooden boards; ornate foliate designs and roundels containing interlace inscribed on the head and fore-edge

 Late 13th century CE (with one 14th-century illumination) Byzantine Empire Sophia Negroponte, Constantinople (seen by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus in 1885) Russian Skete of St. Andrew, Karies, Mt. Athos, 1900, by purchase (cod. 754 in its library; seen there by C. R. Gregory on March 26, 1902) Thomas Whittemore, Paris, by purchase, after 1902 Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase before 1931 Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest Relevant Works Clark, K.W. A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937, pp. 355–357, with pls. lvii and lxxi Spatharakis, I. Corpus of Dated Illuminated Greek Manuscripts to the Year 1453. Leiden: Brill, 1981, pp. 81–82, cat. 335, with figs. 595–596 Parpulov, G.R. “A Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum.” Journal of the Walters Art Museum 62 (2004): pp. 99-102, p. 153 (fols. 1v, 74v), p. 154 (covers, including x-ray photographs, and front edge) Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille Binding New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Christian Codex Illumination Manuscript Walters Art Museum Byzantine Gospel Book Greece 13th century Binding Book Scripture History Liturgy 14th century