Cloisters Apocalypse
| Cloisters Apocalypse | |
|---|---|
| New York, Cloisters Apocalypse, MS 68.174 | |
| Type | Apocalypse |
| Date | c. 1330 |
| Place of origin | Normandy |
| Language(s) | Latin |
| Material | Parchment, ink, tempera, gold, silver |
| Size | 308 × 230 mm |
| Format | 2 columns |
| Illumination(s) | 72 half or full-page miniatures. Coats of arms. Decorated initials in red & blue. |
| Previously kept | Switzerland, possibly Abbey of Zofingen: 59 |
| Accession | no. 68.174 |
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The Cloisters Apocalypse, MS 68.174 is a French illuminated manuscript dated c. 1330, now in The Cloisters in New York. There are 40 folios, that is to say, 80 pages. The page size is 12 1/8 × 9 1/16 in. (30.8 × 23 cm). There is a high level of illustration, with 72 half or full-page miniatures, as well as coats of arms and decorated initials in red & blue.
The text is the Book of Revelation, part of the New Testament. It was thought in the Middle Ages to be authored by John the Evangelist, and contains visions of the end of the world and apocalyptic revelations. According to Christian legend John was exiled c. 95 CE to the Aegean island of Patmos, where he wrote his text, which describes his despair and isolation while exiled,: 45 and his prophecy of the events and terrors of the last days.
It has been claimed that the manuscript was probably influenced by the Commentary on the Apocalypse (c. 776) by the Spanish abbot Beatus of Liébana, who collected earlier commentators on Revelation for an early medieval context,: 39 when the end of the world was anticipated. But unlike the Morgan Beatus, also in New York, it is not one of the group of Iberian Beatus manuscripts with very distinctive illustrations, apparently dating back to the 8th-century creation of the work.