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The Byzantines had a long tradition of using the Old Testament king David as an imperial paradigm in both art and imperial panegyric. 1 By the eleventh century, this concept of David as a model for the emperor was an accepted part of... more
The Byzantines had a long tradition of using the Old Testament king David as an imperial paradigm in both art and imperial panegyric. 1 By the eleventh century, this concept of David as a model for the emperor was an accepted part of imperial ideology. Thus there was always the possibility that a psalter, containing the words of David, could be illustrated to emphasize particular issues relevant to the emperor or affairs of state. This paper examines Vat. gr. 1927, a psalter with illustrations that possess a markedly didactic tone, suggesting it was in fact intended as a kind of "mirror of princes". It is also a psalter that is often grouped together with Vat. gr. 752. Ernest De Wald published their miniatures in companion volumes, and later scholars have tended to refer to these psalters as in a category of their own. 2 Both psalters incorporate illustrations on gold ground
Facsimile with introduction