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You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104

Barbara Wolff (b. 1949) is one of the rare contemporary artists using the techniques of medieval manuscript illumination. She paints on vellum—animal skin—and highlights her work with silver, gold, and platinum foils. Her work has been exhibited at The NY Illustrators Club, The Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University Museum, The Museum of Biblical Art, and the Morgan Library & Museum. Her exploration of the world of nature as it relates to Biblical texts has been enriched by her background and work as a renowned natural science illustrator.

The ten illuminations that comprise You Renew the Face of the Earth illustrate passages from Hebrew Psalm 104, a song in celebration of all creation. This great hymn to the divine in nature directs our awareness to the miracle of our world. The sentiments expressed in this psalm have a particular relevance to our own era, a time of growing consciousness of the profound effect of human enterprise on nature, and of questioning our role as stewards of our planet.

In a number of the paintings, Wolff has portrayed flora and fauna that the ancient Psalmist would certainly have known, and that may still be found in the land of Israel today. She has included the flowers and grasses of its fields and forests, birds which pass through the land each spring and fall, and sea creatures of the Mediterranean, from a precious Murex snail to the great whales.

“And the Mountains Rose” (vv. 5-8), from *You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104*, fol. 2.

“The Earth is Full of Thy Creatures” (v. 24), from *You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104*, fol. 7.

“Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Formed” (vv. 25-6), from *You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104*, fol. 8.

Lavishly Illuminated Hebrew Bible from Medieval Spain

The Kennicott Bible counts among the most significant medieval manuscripts from Spain. It is a noble, exceptional work containing a Hebrew Bible, which contains the text Sefer Michlol by Rabbi David Kihmhi alongside the Tanakh.

The colophon at the end of the manuscript, in which the scribe has immortalized himself by name, is a special feature that is extremely useful to scholarship: in 1476, the famous Moses Ibn Zaraba completed the work with the help of the illuminator Joseph Ibn Hayyim in La Coruna in northwestern Spain.

The 922 pages of this Hebrew Bible, which is amazingly preserved in its original gorgeous binding, combines an exuberant and golden splendor of ornaments, carpet pages, and figurative representations, often of a humorous character. The manuscript received its name from the Hebraist and Christian cleric Benjamin Kennicott, who researched the manuscript in the 18th century.

The World’s Most Mysterious Book

This fine facsimile of the Voynich Manuscript is one of the most remarkable and mysterious manuscript facsimiles in our collection. The only original manuscript, which was carbon dated to 1404-34, exists at Yale University. For 10 years, the Spanish publishing house, Siloe, appealed to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale, asking for access to produce a very small run of the illustrated, hand-written Voynich.

With its apparently encrypted language and illustrations of unknown and imaginary plants and never-seen constellations, this manuscript represents a riddle yet to be solved. Since its creation in the fifteenth century, countless scholars and cryptographers—including some of the world’s most brilliant code breakers—have dedicated themselves to trying to solve the puzzle. With this facsimile available at Hopkins, now our faculty and students can also attempt to solve this singular mystery.

Mysterious, Encrypted Medieval Manuscript Set To Be Published In Replica (NPR)

Gem of Medieval Ottonian Manuscript Illumination

This superlative facsimile of the Hitda Codex, a masterpiece of manuscript production from Cologne during the Ottonian era, replicates an exquisite Christian Gospel book with twenty-two full-page miniatures rich in detail and painterly drama. The original manuscript was produced around 1000-20 and its extensive series of images of the life of Christ paired with monumental full-page framed inscriptions is unique in the history of manuscript art.

Commissioned by Abbess Hitda for her convent at Meschede and dedicated to Saint Walburga, this codex stands out for its depictions of women in relationship to the divine. Among these are many images of Virgin Mary, as one might expect, especially in the nativity and infancy scenes. But less familiar women—Saint Peter’s mother-in-law, a widow whose son Christ raises from the dead, and a woman accused of adultery—play roles in the miracle scenes.

Pictorial Cycle of the Prophet Mohammed’s Ascension

A masterpiece of Timurid style, the Mi’ragnama was produced in 1436 in Herat in the north of modern-day Afghanistan. It is written in a Turkish dialect (Chaghatay Turkish) with Uighur Turkish and Arabic scripts. The manuscript includes the Mi’rajnama or Miraj Nameh (Book of the Ascension). Its sixty-one illustrations show the angel Gabriel leading the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to the Seven Heavens and Hell.

This superb facsimile we’ve acquired captures not only the text and illustrations, but also the luxurious enclosure of the original. It describes the adventures of the prophet Mohamed’s journey through the celestial sphere, in the company of the Archangel Gabriel, to arrive before the throne of God and his subsequent return trip to Earth through the seven circles of Hell.

In medieval Europe, this manuscript became known through the Latin translation that Alfonso the Wise commissioned from the school of translators in Toledo and that, in the judgment of experts, appears to have inspired Dante’s Divine Comedy.

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