Manuscript Cutting: Frontispiece from the Giltlingen Psalter with a Miniature of Saints and a Patron

This illustration was made as the frontispiece for a deluxe psalter for the Imperial Benedictine Abbey of Saint Ulrich and Saint Afra in Augsburg, which had its own press and binding workshop, and reflects the patronage and devotion of its Abbot Johann von Giltlingen (d. 1496). As well as its religious significance, the frontispiece also emphasises the identity and status of the patron through the inclusion of heraldic symbols and the scene of the donation. In this miniature, Saint Ulrich holds a fish in his left hand, symbolising one of his miracles; God’s hand points to him from above, further reinforcing his holiness as a saint. Saint Afra clutches the tree to which she was bound during her martyrdom by fire. The lower part shows the scribe Leonhard Wagner presenting the Psalter to his patron, von Giltlingen, who was Abbot of the Imperial Abbey from 1482 to 1496. Wagner’s patron saint, Saint Jude (or possibly Saint Matthew), stands behind him, holding a hatchet in his right hand, symbolizing his martyrdom. A blank scroll unfurls in the centre of the image and serves as a visual and symbolic link between the upper part (the saints) and the lower part (the donation scene). In the foreground are the arms of Giltlingen (argent, three eagles sable), while the upper corners feature the coats of arms of Saint Ulrich (Kyburg) and Saint Afra (Jerusalem and Lusignan of Cyprus). The frontispiece was submitted to extensive overpainting in the nineteenth century, in particular of the faces of the two monks, perhaps to conceal damage or to make it more marketable, after the psalter was dismembered (after 1793).