lAURENT D'ARVIEUX AND THE KING'S BIBLE: A HEBREW CODEX IN CHRISTIAN HANDS WITH JULIE HARRIS 

In this Research and Academic Program lecture, Julie Harris (Independent Scholar / Clark Fellow) examines how in 1683, in Aleppo, French consul Laurent d’Arvieux took possession of a magnificent Hebrew Bible which had been written and illuminated in medieval Iberia three hundred years earlier. His purchase of the codex should not surprise us: d’Arvieux was one of a cadre of European diplomats and travelers in the middle east in search of so-called Oriental manuscripts, particularly early Bibles, to ship back to scholars and royal libraries in their home countries. What is surprising, however, is that in this case d’Arvieux was not content merely to acquire the Bible, which is now in the British Library in London, but also arranged for additions to be made to its decorative program. Three richly painted, full page illuminations comprising a Title Page (8r), a depiction of the Name of God (2r), and a list of the Ten Commandments (7v) are the most sensational of these additions. At first glance, these folios seem related to accepted decorative entities found in other illuminated Iberian Hebrew Bibles. In reality, they reveal an early modern Christian’s notion of how a Hebrew Bible should be decorated.

Presented in person in the Clark auditorium. A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event.

Image: Seventeenth-century Christian addition to an Iberian Hebrew Bible (BL Kings 1, Solsona, 1384).