Artwork

• Title: Christ in Majesty with the Symbols of the Four Evangelists (folio 2 verso, Gospels of Lothair)
• Artist: Unknown illuminator of the scriptorium of St Martin’s abbey, Tours
• Date made: about 849–851, in the ninth century
• Medium: Painted miniature with gold on parchment
• Current location: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Latin 266
• Source page
• License: Public Domain Mark 1.0

• Title: Emperor Lothair I Enthroned (folio 1 verso, Gospels of Lothair)
• Artist: Unknown illuminator of the scriptorium of St Martin’s abbey, Tours
• Date made: about 849–851, in the ninth century
• Medium: Painted miniature with gold on parchment
• Current location: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Latin 266
• Source page
• License: Public Domain Mark 1.0

The Commons files are the largest copies on that site. They are smaller than the 2400-pixel limit, so the page shows them at full size.

What you see

On the first page, Christ sits on a green globe inside an almond-shaped frame. A gold halo with a cross stands behind his head. His hair and beard are red-brown. His right hand is raised in blessing. His left hand holds a closed book with a gold cover. In the four corners are winged creatures that stand for the four Gospels. Latin lines in gold run above and below the frame. On the second page, Lothair sits crowned under a canopy. He holds a staff. Two armed guards stand beside him.

Why it matters

The Gospels of Lothair came from the scriptorium (writing workshop) of St Martin’s abbey at Tours. Tradition dates it to 849–851. Its first painted page (folio 1 verso) shows Lothair enthroned. Lothair was Charlemagne’s grandson. He kept the emperor’s title after the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The Tours workshop led Carolingian painting in these years. A Viking attack on St Martin’s in 853 marks a break in its output. The style still shaped other centers.

Christ and the sacraments

The Latin verse on the Christ page says that four books shine here, flowing from one fountain. The fountain is Christ, and the four books are the Gospels. Lutherans can link that image to Christ’s own words in those Gospels. They give Baptism its promise in Matthew 28 and the Supper its gift in the words of institution. The picture teaches Christ’s person and Word. It does not prove any doctrine of the sacraments.

Teaching question

The verse says the four Gospels flow from one source. How does Christ’s Word in the Gospels give Baptism and the Supper their promise? Read Augsburg Confession III, Small Catechism: Baptism, and Small Catechism: the Supper.

Sources

• Web Gallery of Art: Lothar Gospels: the date of 849–51, the Tours workshop under Abbot Vivian, the portrait of Lothar on folio 1v, and the link to the Vivian Bible.
• History of Information, “Mass Production” of Bibles at Tours: compares the output of the Tours scriptorium before and after the Viking attack of 853.