Sing a New Song: the Psalms in Medieval Art and Life
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City
September 12, 2025 - January 4, 2026
Reviewed by Ed Voves
The 1993 discovery in northern Israel of fragments of an ancient monument thrilled scholars of ancient history and people devoted to the study of the Holy Bible. The Tel Dan inscription wasn't much to look at, pieces of gray stone inscribed with words in the Aramaic language, dating to nearly three thousand years ago.
The inscription itself was a different matter. Among the words chiseled into the stone was the title of the dynastic rulers of the Kingdom of Judah: "the House of David." It was the first archaeological confirmation of the legendary, giant-slaying King David, revered for centuries afterwards.
The Morgan Library and Museum has just opened a fascinating exhibition devoted to the reverence for King David during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Sing a New Song surveys a thousand years of history, from the last years of the Western Roman Empire to the Reformation of the 1500's. At every point, we find the presence the of the indomitable David.
Indeed, it was another of David's accomplishments which kept his reputation alive. It was a book of 150 poems which Jews and Christians alike believed the harp-playing David had composed and sung himself.
The Psalms.
The word psalm derives from psaillein, the Greek verb form "to pluck." This evolved into psalmos, "a song sung to harp music."
Since Greek was the common language of many ethnic groups of the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean area, psalmos gained a widespread usage and was adapted by the Latin-speaking western regions.
The indelible image associated with psalm comes, not from etymology, but from the folk memory of the brave Hebrew shepherd boy and, later, deeply-flawed king of Judah. David is the first actual hero known to history (thanks to the Tel Dan inscription). Achilles, Hector and Odysseus may have lived and fought in a war at Troy. But David did live, 1040-970 B.C., and did compose hymns to Yahweh which we call psalms.
History, especially that relating to the Bible, is maddeningly complicated. We must acknowledge that David composed several of the 150 Psalms, but not all. Most were inspired by him but composed by other poets, sometimes centuries later.
Christians and Jews during the Middle Ages believed that David was the author of ALL of the Psalms. Since the medieval era was the great Age of Faith, we will bow to their convictions and focus our attention on the magnificent exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum.
Sing a New Song took seven years to develop, design and mount, much of the time and difficulty due to effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The "team effort" was led by Roger Wieck, the department head of the Morgan Library's incomparable collection of medieval manuscripts.
In his remarks at the press preview of a Sing a New Song, Wieck, referred to a particularly beautiful, hand-written book of psalms, known as the Lewis Psalter. This illuminated manuscript is on loan to the Morgan from the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia and Wieck was clearly delighted to present it.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025)
"To have the opportunity to hold the Lewis Psalter," Wieck proclaimed, "is like having Chartres Cathedral in your hands."
This remark is very astute for two reasons. The Lewis Psalter dates to the Gothic era or the High Middle Ages.This was the golden age of cathedral building, as well as creating illuminated manuscripts. Most of these splendidly illustrated books give a prominent place to pictures of David vs. Goliath, the latter always being depicted in the chain-mail fighting gear of knights of the contemporary era.
The second point to Roger Wieck's remark that holding an illuminated manuscript like the Lewes Psalter "is like having Chartres Cathedral in your hands" was literally true during the Middle Ages.
For devout people in medieval times, having the psalms at your disposal was to be able to worship God anywhere and everywhere. Whether you were part of a congregation at a cathedral or monastery, praying in your home or - as we will see - locked in a prison cell in the Tower of London, the Book of Psalms provided divine help to match your needs.
The illuminated manuscripts on view in Sing a New Song fall into four basic categories: psalters, books of hours, breviaries and primers. Psalms constituted vital components in each, particularly psalters.
All 150 of the psalms were included in a psalter because the Christian clergy were required to read and pray all of them in a weekly ritual known as the Divine Office. The sequence varied according to the season of the Church year and the psalter was essential in keeping the correct order.
Initially, lavish pictures were seldom included in psalters. This can be seen in one of the most important works on view in the Morgan exhibit. It is relatively nondescript in appearance - compared with illuminated manuscripts from the Gothic era - but looks are deceiving, especially in the case of the Blickling Psalter.
The Blickling Psalter, ca. 730. This illustration shows Psalm 80: “ExultateDeo” (Rejoice to God) in
Latin with Old English glosses.
Scribes in England, most likely in Northumbria, composed this majestic work, now reduced to a fragment. They included explanatory glosses in between the lines of the Latin text. These words are in Old English, making the Blickling Psalter a vital source book for comprehending the development of the English language, as well as a testament to the rise of Christian faith in England.
The complex - and fascinating - details of the Blickling Psalter can be found in the "backstories" of most of the illuminated manuscripts on view in Sing a New Song. Likewise, the distinctions between a psalter and a book of hours provides vital insights into the rise of literacy and private devotion which reached new heights in the Gothic era.
Added to these important themes, there was the parallel development of music in medieval Europe. The Morgan exhibit highlights the role of music by displaying one of the large-format choir books which enabled psalms to be sung in powerful, emotion-charged accompaniment to the celebration of Christian Mass.
Sing a New Song has a millenium of history to narrate, with many details, especially of theology and religious practice, which may be unfamiliar to modern-day art lovers. To enlighten curious, perhaps puzzled, visitors to the exhibition, Roger Wieck and his team, Diedre Jackson, Joshua O'Driscoll and Frederica Law-Turner have contributed essays to the exhibit catalog which are both instructive and enjoyable.
Like the illuminated manuscripts chronicled in its pages, the catalog of Sing a New Song, published by the D. Giles company, is truly a book to cherish. Sing a New Song is also a worthy counterpart to another Morgan/D.Giles collaboration, the Imperial Splendor exhibit (2021), which surveyed culture and religion in the Germanic realms of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.
Medieval people certainly cherished their psalters and books of hours. Psalms, however, were valued for more than their words of moral encouragement or consolation. For Christians and Jews they were a form of spiritual armor to help resist temptation and ward-off demons and devils.
Considering that King David had dismally failed to observe the sixth and ninth commandments in the case of Bathsheba, Christian clergyman must have struggled with using the all-too-human monarch as an exemplar of morality.
Another instance of using the psalms to thwart demons and devils was the Jewish practice in the Middle East, fifth to eighth centuries, of burying incantation bowls in the corners of homes and by doorways. These were inscribed with verses of the psalms, especially Psalm 90 (91) and stories of rabbis battling malign spirits.
Given the many dangers faced by people during the Middle Ages, one should refrain from raising a bemused eyebrow at these practices. Human beings grasp at whatever comes to hand - or to mind - in times of crisis.
For the medieval world, the greatest catastrophe came in 1347-48, when the Bubonic Plague ravaged Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Prayer books and incantation bowls had little effect, as close to half of Europe's population succumbed to the dread disease.
The exhibit objects in the last gallery of Sing a New Song bear the mark of the Black Death. The image of death appeared on the pages of psalters, statues, paintings and religious objects. Death was an inescapable fact of life during the late Middle Ages and chanting psalms was often the only relief.
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For Sir Thomas More, imprisoned for resisting the usurpation of King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England, the Psalms were the inspiration for the poignant poems and essays he wrote while in the Tower of London.
The final book on display in Sing a New Song is not an illuminated manuscript. Rather, it is a prayer book printed in 1530 with the new movable type technology. A combination psalter and book of hours, it was used by Thomas More during his imprisonment and was likely the last book he read before going to the block on July 6, 1535.
Give me Thy grace, good Lord, to set the world at naught; to set my mind fast upon thee; and not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths.
To bear the cross with Christ; to have the last things in remembrance; to have ever afore mine eye my death that is ever at hand; to make death no stranger to me; to foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell; to pray for pardon before the Judge come.
To think my most enemies my best friends; for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favour as they did him with their malice and hatred.
What better description for the Psalms can we have than "godly meditations"?
Whatever language was used to write them and whether or not they are illustrated with hand-painted pictures is of secondary importance. These precious books of psalms, on view at the Morgan, are all godly meditations, written-down by many hands, but not by the hand of man alone.
***
Introductory Image: The Windmill Psalter, England, London, late 13th century. Cantate Domino canticum novum (Ps. 97): Clerics Singing. Codex: 320 x 215 mm. Morgan MS M.102, fols. 99v-100r Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1902
Lorenzo Monaco (13-14) King David as Psalmist, painted in Italy, Florence, ca.1408-1410) Panel painting: 568 x 432 mm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 65.14.
The Crusader
Bible. Young David, one of four scenes in the life of King
David, depicted on a page of the Crusader
Bible, created in Paris, France,
ca. 1244-1254. Single Leaf: 390 x 300 mm. Morgan MS M.638, fol. 25v.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Sing a New Song: the Psalms in Medieval Art and Life at the Morgan Library and Museum.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Sing a New Song: the Psalms in Medieval Art and Life, showing a "cut-out"in the medieval Gothic style.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Portrait of Roger Wieck, Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts of the Morgan Library and Museum.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) The Lewis Psalter, illuminated by the Leber Group, France, Paris, ca. 1225-30. Codex: 230 x 165 mm. Rare Book Department, Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis MS E 185, fols. 14v–15r
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) David and Goliath from the Bible Historiale (French). Illuminated by the workshop of Richard and Jeanne de Montbaston. Codex: 425 x 310 mm. France, Paris, ca. 1325 The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.323, fols. 1v–2r | Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1907.
Carcassone Bible, France,
Avignon, 1422. Codex, written by Simon ben Rabbi Samuel for Vidal Astruc de Carcassone:
288 x 203 mm. Morgan MS G.48, fols. 438r-437v
Hours of Henry VIII. St. Anne Instructing the Virgin. Illuminated by Jean Poyer France, Tours, ca. 1500. Codex: 256 x 180 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS H.8, fols. 186v–187r | Gift of the Heineman Foundation,1977
Blickling
Psalter, England, ca. 730. Psalm
80: “Exultate Deo” (Rejoice to God) in Latin with Old English glosses. Codex:
306 x 230 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.776, fols. 39v–40r |
Purchased, 1932
Diedre Jackson, Photo (2025 Gallery view of Sing a New Song, showing the Lodi Book (Latin) opened to Resurrection (Matins for Easter. Created in Milan, ca. 1470-95. Codex: 560 x 410 mm. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.686, fols. 2v–3r | Purchased, before 1921.
Book cover illustration of Sing a New Song: the Psalms in Medieval Art and Life, courtesy of D. Giles, Ltd.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Triumphant Christ on a Reliquary panel. Made in Belgium, Mosan workshop, late eleventh century (panel) and thirteenth century (frame). Silver, gilded silver, gilded copper, rock crystal, champlevé enamel and other materials: 585 x 380 x 50 mm. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 57.519
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Sing a New Song at the Morgan Library and Museum, showing Incantation bowls, inscribed in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. From Iraq, Nippur, ca. fifth–seventh century. Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, B2923, B9009, B2945 | Penn Babylonian Expeditions, 1889-90.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Front and back views of Memento Mori Rosary Terminal Bead, ca. 1500-1525. Made in Northern France or Flanders. Elephant ivory, with emerald pendant, silver-gilt mount: 136 x 40 x 43 mm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917; 17.190.305
Hans Holbein the Younger. Sir Thomas More, 1527. Drawing in black and colored chalks, with outlines pricked for transfer: 39.8 x 29.9 cm.. Royal Collection Trust, England, RCIN 912268 Photo: © King Charles III 2025.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) The Prayer Book of Sir Thomas More (Combined Psalter/Book of Hours: the Book of Hours section was printed in Paris by François Regnault, 1530. The Psalter section was printed by Franz Birckman in Paris, 1522) Codex: 220 mm (quarto) Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, MS Vault More| Gift of Edwin J. Beinecke, Yale 1907, and Frederick W. Beinecke, Yale 1909
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