- Period
- Late Gothic
- Date
- c. 1530–35
- Collection
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object no.
- 2003.174
Adjoining Leaves from a Book of Hours: Penitential Psalms and King David in Prayer (2 of 3 Excised Leaves)
Noël Bellemare, c. 1530–35
Cleveland Museum of Art · The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection · Public domain
- Maker
- Noël Bellemare
- Date
- c. 1530–35
- Medium
- ink, tempera, and liquid gold on vellum
- Dimensions
- Each leaf: 11.2 x 6.4 cm (4 7/16 x 2 1/2 in.)
- Period
- Late Gothic
The record
Why it matters
These two adjoining leaves begin the penitential psalms, or holy poems recited to ask for forgiveness. An elderly King David is depicted kneeling in prayer after having committed great sins. He has cast his harp and hat to the ground as an expression of humility and looks up to the sky to ask forgiveness. The text of Psalm 6 begins with the large decorated initial D and reads, “Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me: neque in ira tua corripias me,” or “O Lord rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath.”