The Psalms of David

This work on paper is one of a series created early in Traquair’s career. The artist illuminated the first thirty four psalms from the biblical book of David over a period of fifteen years. Earlier examples have a crude and naïve quality in comparison with later pages created between 1887-79, which reveal a much more confident sense of design, influenced by French medieval manuscripts. Traquair would have seen such original manuscripts in libraries in Edinburgh and London, or borrowed copies from private collectors including the writer John Ruskin, who loaned the artist a number of thirteenth century documents from his personal library.