Editing Vienna Genesis

{{Short description|6th century illuminated manuscript}}

[[File:ViennGenFol12vJacob.jpg|thumb|The illustration on folio 12v from the Vienna Genesis shows the story of [[Jacob]] Wrestling the Angel.]]
[[File:ViennaGenesisPict13RebeccaEliezer.jpg|thumb|[[Rebecca]] and Eliezer at the Well]]
The '''Vienna Genesis''' ([[Vienna]], [[Österreichische Nationalbibliothek]], cod. theol. gr. 31), designated by siglum '''L''' (Ralphs), is an [[illuminated manuscript]], probably produced in [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]] in the first half of the 6th century. It is one of the oldest well-preserved, surviving, illustrated biblical [[codex|codices]]; only the [[Garima Gospels]] of Ethiopia, dating to the 5th and 6th centuries, are as old or older.

The surviving text is part of the [[Book of Genesis]] in the Greek [[Septuagint]] translation. The text is frequently abbreviated. There are twenty-four surviving [[Bookbinding|folio]]s each with miniatures at the bottom of both sides. It is thought that there were originally about ninety-six folios and 192 illustrations. It is written in [[uncial]]s with silver ink on calfskin [[vellum]] (on page 36 of "The Vienna Genesis. Material analysis and conservation of a late antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment" states "The parchment of Late Antique manuscripts, which date from the 4th–7th century, is made from sheepskin" despite the fact it is called vellum. Its being called vellum is misleading as it would have been lambskin not calfskin, to which vellum specifically applies) [[Purple parchment|dyed a rich purple]], placing it very firmly in the category of luxury manuscripts. This shade of purple dye was also used to dye imperial cloth.

The Vienna Genesis relates to the [[Rossano Gospels]] and the [[Sinope Gospels]], from roughly the same period.<ref>Robert Milburn, Robert Leslie Pollington Milburn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qIDho9jinAwC&pg=PA301 ''Early Christian art and architecture''], University of California Press, 1988, s. 301.</ref>

==Description==
The illustrations are done in a naturalistic style typical of [[Late Antique]] painting. The manuscript's illustrations are, in format, transitional between those found in scrolls and later images found in codices. Each illustration is painted at the bottom of a single page. However, within a single illustration, two or more episodes from a story may be included, so that the same person may be represented multiple times within a single illustration. There are both framed and unframed illustrations. The illustrations contain incidents and people not mentioned in the text of Genesis. These incidents are thought to have been derived from popular elaborations of the story or from Jewish commentaries on the text.

''Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well'' shows the story of Genesis 24, in which Abraham's servant, Eliezer, goes to look for a wife for Abraham's son, Isaac. As he travels with ten of Abraham's camels, he stops to give them water, prays that Isaac's future wife will assist him with watering his camels, and Rebecca shows up to help Eliezer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Smarthistory Guide to Byzantine Art |publisher=Smarthistory |editor-last=Freeman |editor-first=Evan |location=Brooklyn |pages=111 |editor-last2=McClanan |editor-first2=Anne L.}}</ref> Rebecca is depicted twice to illustrate the continued narrative. She wears a pink dress and is depicted walking from a city in the background, holding a water jug on her shoulder, towards a body of water, next to which lounges a classically inspired female [[personification]]. Rebecca is illustrated a second time at the well with Eliezer.

The illustration of ''Jacob Wrestling The Angel'' depicts a scene from Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles with an angel all night. In the illustration, Jacob is shown holding onto the angel's cloak while the angel reaches out to touch him. Similar to ''Rebecca at the Well'', the figures are painted in profile, with elongated bodies and exaggerated facial features. The use of gold and silver paint, as well as intricate detailing in the clothing and hair, adds to the richness of the image. The story follows Jacob, in the brown and reddish tunic, who wakes up and leads his family across the river. In his trail following him are his wives on donkeys and many servants.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Story of Jacob from the Vienna Genesis – Smarthistory |url=https://smarthistory.org/the-story-of-jacob-from-the-vienna-genesis/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=smarthistory.org}}</ref> After crossing the river Jacob is then seen meeting an angel, seen wrestling the angel, and then the angel blesses him. There are multiple depictions of Jacob shown here to show multiple points of the story. From this story, as read in Genesis the book, Jacob is therefore blessed as Israel, and is blessed by God for the rest of his life.<ref name=":1" /> The bridge's architectural forms include a colonnade with Roman columns which references classical architecture as it adapts to the scroll perspective.

The initial [[iota]] and [[upsilon]] have the [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]].<ref>[[Bruce M. Metzger]], ''Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography'', Oxford University Press, Oxford 1981, Plate 8, p. 92.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Early Christian art and architecture]]
* [[Cotton Genesis]] – another illuminated Greek manuscript of the Book of Genesis

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=m60LAQAAMAAJ ''Die Wiener Genesis''], hrsg. von [[Wilhelm von Hartel]] und Franz Wickhoff, in: Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, 15/16, 1895; Neudr. Graz 1970.
* Calkins, Robert G. ''Illuminated Manuscripts of the Middle Ages''. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983. pages 21–22.
* Clausberg, Karl. ''Die Wiener Genesis. Eine kunstwissenschaftliche Bilderbuchgeschichte.'' Frankfurt: Fischer, 1984.
* Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf. ''Codices Illustres: The world's most famous illuminated manuscripts, 400 to 1600''. Köln, TASCHEN, 2005.
* [[Kurt Weitzmann|Weitzmann, Kurt]], ed., ''[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/156533 Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century]'', no. 410, 1979, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York, {{ISBN|9780870991790}}
* Weitzmann, Kurt.  ''Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination''. New York: George Braziller, 1977.
* Zimmermann, Barbara. ''Die Wiener Genesis im Rahmen der antiken Buchmalerei. Ikonographie, Darstellung, Illustrationsverfahren und Aussageintention''. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2003.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Vienna Genesis}}
* M. C. Swern, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120121010938/http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/view_online.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fetd.ohiolink.edu%2Fsend-pdf.cgi%2FSwern%2520Marjorie%2520Carol.pdf%3Fosu1184621755 ''The Iconography of the Creation of Adam and Eve In Early Christian Manuscript Recensions''], 1965.
* [https://onb.digital/search/305968 Digital Images of the manuscript online] at the [[Austrian National Library]].

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Illuminated biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:Byzantine illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:6th-century biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:Septuagint manuscripts]]
[[Category:6th-century illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:Biblical manuscripts in the Austrian National Library]]
[[Category:Purple parchment]]