The Importance of Literary Sources in the Pictorial Tradition of the Beatus Manuscripts: The Case of Percussion Musical Instruments

Abstract

This work carries out a detailed analysis of the context and the reasons that led the illustrators of the Beatus manuscripts to select and represent the two percussion instruments that appear in the illustration of Visio III of the Commentary on the Book of Daniel by Jerome transmitted in some manuscripts since the number of percussion instruments drawn and their typology do not correspond to what can be read in Jerome’s text, in the biblical text, and in the existing bibliography on the subject. This fact cannot be explained solely on the basis of the preceding pictorial tradition or the organological reality of the time, as the absence of sources does not allow for this. However, the literary sources of that period may have influenced the illustrators of this scene to draw these two percussion instruments.

Keywords

• Beatus of Liébana
• Beatus
• Beatus manuscripts
• <i>sambuca</i>
• <i>cymbalum</i>
• <i>symphonia</i>