Genealogy of Christ
The Genealogy of Christ is a scroll that was made as a teaching tool by the scholar Peter of Poitiers (ca. 1130–1215). It shows the most important people and events of the Old Testament, clearly and comprehensives summarized in family trees. Various colors make the structure easy to understand and remember. The scroll was used a learning aid for teaching in classrooms and the University of Paris.
Genealogy of Christ
A manuscript on a vellum scroll that was intended to serve as a learning aid in biblical instruction arose during the Gothic Middle Ages. Peter of Poitiers, the chancellor of the University of Paris, composed this manuscript, which was to be used as a study aid on the walls of classrooms. The scroll arranges the most important biblical people in the form of family trees in connection with one another and in doing so makes the story of the Old Testament more easily understood. The work is furnished with a variety of various color accents in order to differentiate the contents. Around 50 handwritten copies of the genealogy from the time period of the 13th to the 15th centuries still exist today.
A Free Educational Aid
The Genealogy of Christ was used as a didactic aid on classroom walls. Poor schoolchildren and clerics who were not in the financial position to buy books for themselves had a free synopsis of the most important biblical people and events. The story of the Old Testament could be analyzed at a glance and was easily imprinted through the compact depictions.
Theological Tradition
Peter of Poitiers was an educated theologian from France. He lived in Paris ca. 1130 to 1205. He studied at the University of Paris and was later named chancellor of this very university. He published several orthodox teachings and lectures in numerous handwritten codices. The Genealogy of Christ is his most attractive work. The scroll is divided into the six different ages of humanity, according to the tradition of which, the Sixth Age was begun with the birth of Christ and was ended with his crucifixion. The most important people were summarized bearing the complexity of the stories in mind. Thus the content of the Bible was clearly articulated.
Various Color Accents
The people and individual aspects of the biblical passages of the genealogy were furnished with a variety of different colors. The gender and status of people in the society could be easily distinguished from one another. Women’s names, for example, were surrounded by fresh green frames. Kings were consigned with a luminous red color and prophets were set in a deep blue color base. The various temporal epochs were also made easily discernable through the use of different colors. These noteworthy learning aids of the Middle Ages were so beloved, that they were frequently copied from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Today the original edition of the scroll is found in the Biblioteca Casantense in Rome.
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Genealogía de Cristo
Genealogie Christi
Abstammung Jesu
Genealogia di Cristo
Généalogie du Christ
Genealogia de Cristo - Size / Format
- 1 roll / 384.0 × 19.3 cm
- Origin
- Italy
- Date
- 1320–1340
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Artist / School
- Peter of Poitiers (author)
Venetian school (illuminators)
Genealogy of Christ
King David
Rather than being depicted as the composer of the Psalms and holding a lyre, as is typical in Christian art, David is depicted here as a crowned medieval king holding a scepter with his head framed by a golden halo. King David looks directly at the beholder with kind eyes and a long, straight nose – the only facial features that aren’t hidden by a shaggy beard. Dressed in the style of the 14th century, he wears a patterned tunic with a cloak adorned by a cross pulled over his left shoulder.

Genealogy of Christ
Crucifixion
Unlike the rest of this rare scroll, which is painted using a wide-variety of colors, this most-iconic of Christian scenes is presented here in semi-grisaille – executed entirely by using shading and only embellished by the use of gold leaf for the halos. This is also a minimalist depiction of the Crucifixion scene, excluding all other figures save for the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist.
This miniature is so stripped down that Golgotha is represented by a skull and only the smallest bump of a hill. However, the beholder is thus allowed to focus on the strokes from the skillful hand of the artist: a perfectly balanced composition, a detailed and naturalistic fall of folds, delicate shading, and subtle yet expressive countenances.

#1 Genealogía de Cristo
Language: Spanish
- Treatises / Secular Books
- Apocalypses / Beatus
- Astronomy / Astrology
- Bestiaries
- Bibles / Gospels
- Chronicles / History / Law
- Geography / Maps
- Saints' Lives
- Islam / Oriental
- Judaism / Hebrew
- Single Leaf Collections
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Literature / Poetry
- Liturgical Manuscripts
- Medicine / Botany / Alchemy
- Music
- Mythology / Prophecies
- Psalters
- Other Religious Books
- Games / Hunting
- Private Devotion Books
- Other Genres
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Serbia
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Aboca Museum
- Akademie Verlag
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)
- Aldo Ausilio Editore - Bottega d’Erasmo
- Alecto Historical Editions
- Alkuin Verlag
- Almqvist & Wiksell
- ARS
- Ars Magna
- ArtCodex
- AyN Ediciones
- Azimuth Editions
- Bärenreiter-Verlag
- Belser Verlag
- Belser Verlag / WK Wertkontor
- Bernardinum Wydawnictwo
- BiblioGemma
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vaticanstadt, Vaticanstadt)
- Bibliotheca Palatina Faksimile Verlag
- Bibliotheca Rara
- Boydell & Brewer
- Brepols Publishers
- British Library
- C. Weckesser
- Caixa Catalunya
- Canesi
- CAPSA, Ars Scriptoria
- Caratzas Brothers, Publishers
- Circulo Cientifico
- Club Bibliófilo Versol
- CM Editores
- Collegium Graphicum
- Collezione Apocrifa Da Vinci
- Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses
- Coron Verlag
- CTHS
- D. S. Brewer
- De Agostini/UTET
- De Schutter
- Deuschle & Stemmle
- Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft
- DIAMM
- Droz
- E. Schreiber Graphische Kunstanstalten
- Ediciones Boreal
- Ediciones Grial
- Edilan
- Editalia
- Edition Leipzig
- Edition Libri Illustri
- Editiones Reales Sitios S. L.
- Éditions de l'Oiseau Lyre
- Editions Medicina Rara
- Editorial Casariego
- Editorial Mintzoa
- Editrice Antenore
- Edizioni Edison
- Egeria, S.L.
- Eikon Editores
- Electa
- Eos-Verlag
- ET&B
- Eugrammia Press
- Extraordinary Editions
- Facsimile Editions Ltd.
- Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG
- Faksimile Verlag
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
- Fundación Hullera Vasco-Leonesa
- G. Braziller
- Gebr. Mann Verlag
- Giovanni Domenico de Rossi
- Giunti Editore
- Graffiti
- Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
- Guido Pressler
- Guillermo Blazquez
- Helikon
- Henning Oppermann
- Herder Verlag
- Hes & De Graaf Publishers
- Hoepli
- Houghton Library
- Hugo Schmidt Verlag
- Idion Verlag
- Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte
- ILte
- Imago
- Insel Verlag
- Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
- Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani
- Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
- J. Thorbecke
- Jugoslavija
- Karl W. Hiersemann
- Kasper Straube
- Kaydeda Ediciones
- Kurt Wolff Verlag
- La Liberia dello Stato
- La Linea Editrice
- La Meta Editore
- Lambert Schneider
- Leo S. Olschki
- Les Incunables
- Libreria Musicale Italiana
- Lichtdruck
- Lumen Artis
- Lund Humphries
- M. Moleiro Editor
- Maison des Sciences de l'homme et de la société de Poitiers
- Manuscriptum
- Maruzen-Yushodo Co. Ltd.
- MASA
- McGraw-Hill
- Militos
- Millennium Liber
- Müller & Schindler
- National Library of Wales
- Nova Charta
- Odeon
- Orbis Mediaevalis
- Orbis Pictus
- Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
- Oxford University Press
- Parzellers Buchverlag
- Patrimonio Ediciones
- PIAF
- Plon-Nourrit et cie
- Prestel Verlag
- Princeton University Press
- Prisma Verlag
- Priuli & Verlucca, editori
- Pro Sport Verlag
- Propyläen Verlag
- Pytheas Books
- Quaternio Verlag Luzern
- Reales Sitios
- Reichert Verlag
- Riehn & Reusch
- Roberto Vattori Editore
- Rosenkilde and Bagger
- Roxburghe Club
- Salerno Editrice
- Sarajevo Svjetlost
- Schöck ArtPrint Kft.
- Scolar Press
- Scrinium
- Scripta Maneant
- Scriptorium
- Siloé, arte y bibliofilia
- SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo
- Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología
- Stainer and Bell
- Styria Verlag
- Sumptibus Pragopress
- Szegedi Tudomànyegyetem
- Tarshish Books
- Taschen
- Tempus Libri
- Testimonio Compañía Editorial
- The Clear Vue Publishing Partnership Limited
- The Facsimile Codex
- The Folio Society
- The Marquess of Normanby
- The Richard III and Yorkist History Trust
- Tip.Le.Co
- TouchArt
- Trident Editore
- Typis Regiae Officinae Polygraphicae
- University of California Press
- University of Chicago Press
- Urs Graf
- Vallecchi
- Van Wijnen
- VCH, Acta Humaniora
- VDI Verlag
- Verlag Styria
- Vicent Garcia Editores
- Wiener Mechitharisten-Congregation (Wien, Österreich)
- Xuntanza Editorial
- Zollikofer AG