In 1998 Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, commissioned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a fully illuminated luxury manuscript of the Bible. Working out of his scriptorium in Monmouth, Wales, Jackson and a team of calligraphers and artists used traditional techniques and modern technology to create a spectacular illuminated text of over 1,100 pages.
Completed in May 2011, The Saint John’s Bible ensures that the ancient art of illumination—so richly represented in the Morgan Library & Museum’s collections of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts—lives on into the twenty-first century.
From May 7–August 25, 2013, the Morgan will celebrate this generous gift with the display of the Prophets volume from the Apostles Edition, as well as one of Jackson’s preliminary studies for the Gospel of John frontispiece, on loan from the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. The Prophets volume, containing 232 pages and twenty illuminations, will be opened to reveal an illuminated depiction of the prophet Isaiah.
The presentation will be displayed in the Marble Hall of the Morgan’s 1928 Annex building. Visitors will have the opportunity to compare these modern illuminated works with their medieval origins when, beginning May 17, Illuminating Faith: The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art, goes on view in an adjacent gallery.
The Morgan Library & Museum 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016-3405 212.685.0008 www.themorgan.org