One way to know youâ??re in a great museum: Youâ??re rushing to see the latest blockbuster and get waylaid by something amazing that catches your eye. How come you never noticed it before? The Metropolitan Museum of Artâ??s annual seasonal blockbusterâ??New Yorkâ??s museum version of â??The Nutcrackerâ?â??is the magnificent Christmas tree decorated with a magical 18th-century Neapolitan crèche and ornaments, on view through Jan. 6. Almost literally in its shadow, easy to miss en route to holiday joy, sits an even more breathtaking exhibition of pages from the Winchester Bible. And they wonâ??t be on view next Christmastimeâ??the show packs up after March 9.
William the Conquerorâ??s grandson Henry of Blois (1098-1171) probably commissioned the Winchester Bible while he was Bishop of Winchester, one of the worldâ??s great cathedrals. Brother of the English King Stephen, Henry had been educated in France at the foremost Benedictine monastery, Cluny. So it is not surprising that the varieties of painting styles seen on the Winchester Bibleâ??s pages reflect an international approach to decorating what was clearly an extraordinary book even in its own time, with the likely participation of at least six painters. While today our focus is on the illuminations, it is important to remember that the text itselfâ??here St. Jeromeâ??s fourth-century Latin Vulgate, rather than a Latin version of the second-century Greek Septuagintâ??is what is truly sacred. The paintings serve as illustrations to emphasize that point.
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