Romanesque Trees of Jesse

Trees of Jesse flourished in the early twelfth century as a motif to illustrate the beginning of the New Testament (Matthew 1), tracing Jesus' descent from King David and 'Jesse's Seed'. This is one of a whole host of visual motifs which proliferated in the Romanesque era to decorate churches, manuscripts, tombs, and educate even the non-literate in the stories and patterns of Bible lore.

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Tree of Jesse window at Canterbury (ca. 1220).
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Tree of Jesse at Chartres, nave (ca. 1150).
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Genealogy of Christ as fishing line: Herrad of Hohenburg, Hortus Deliciarum (bef. 1195: sketch copy).
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Tree of Jesse: painted cieling, nave of St. Michael's, Hildesheim (2d quarter, 13th century; restored, 19th century).
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Tree of Jesse: painted cieling, nave of St. Michael's, Hildesheim (2d quarter, 13th century; restored, 19th century).
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Tree of Jesse: painted cieling, nave of St. Michael's, Hildesheim (2d quarter, 13th century; restored, 19th century).
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The Ingeborg Psalter (ca. 1200: Chantilly, Musˇe Condˇ).
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Tree of Jesse, Bible, French, later s. XII (Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 16746, f. 7v).
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Lambeth Bible: Jesse Tree, mid. s. XII. Lambeth Library, MS 3, f. 98.
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Tree of Jesse tomb slab, Lincoln Cathedral: ca. 1148.
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Tree of Jesse, later s. XII. Hrabanus Maurus, De laudibus sancte crucis. Douai, Bib. Municip., MS 340, f. 11.
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Peter of Poitiers, Compendium of Biblical History (Scroll), ca. 1210 (Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana Cod. 489).
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Tree of Jesse (on right), Saint-Denis: by 1143 (restored s. 19)
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Tree of Jesse with all ancestors in trunk: Herrad of Hohenburg, Hortus Deliciarum (before 1195; colored sketch).

 

Nathaniel Lane Taylor
rev 15.01.2007