Facsimile page from the Bible Moralized MS 2554 – The Calling of Abraham and the Liberation of Lot
Eight medallions of vocation, detachment from the world, spiritual struggle and salvation in the Vienna Bible Moralized
A refined facsimile page from the Bibbia Moralizzata MS 2554, a 13th-century illuminated manuscript held at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The composition features eight illuminated medallions with gold backgrounds dedicated to the divine calling of Abraham, his departure from his homeland, the story of Lot, the war of the kings, and the liberation from captivity. As is typical of the Bible Moralization, the biblical narrative is not simply illustrated, but transformed into a moral and spiritual reading. The story of Abraham thus becomes a visual meditation on detachment from the world, on following the Cross, on the struggle against evil, and on the salvation of the soul. An ideal work for collectors, enthusiasts of medieval illuminated manuscripts, sacred art, illustrated Bibles, Christian symbolism, and valuable facsimiles.Want more information about this product? Click here and fill out the form to be contacted by one of our curators.
149,00 €
- Description
Description
Facsimile page from the Bible Moralized MS 2554 with eight illuminated medallions dedicated to the calling of Abraham, the story of Lot, the war of the kings, and the liberation from captivity. The gold background, narrative structure, and moralized reading transform the biblical story into a powerful image of vocation, spiritual choice, and salvation.
Limited edition facsimile, produced with fine art printing, gold foil, and hand-treated parchment paper.
Product Description
Before Abraham became the father of offspring, he had to listen to a voice.
Before he received the promise, he had to leave his land.
Before the path of faith took shape, there was a command: to depart.
This facsimile page, taken from the Bible Moralized MS 2554, presents one of the great spiritual sequences of the Old Testament: the calling of Abraham, his departure by divine command, the story of Lot, the war of the kings and the liberation from a condition of captivity.
The composition is organized into eight historiated medallions, arranged in two columns and four registers. Each scene is not simply an illustrated episode, but part of a complex visual narrative. The page guides the gaze from vocation to journey, from detachment to trial, from battle to liberation.
As always in the Bible Moralized, the biblical narrative is not presented merely as a memory of the past. It is interpreted, explained, and transformed into teaching. Abraham’s story thus becomes an image of the soul’s journey: leaving behind what binds us to the world, following God’s voice, facing spiritual conflict, and finding salvation through liberating intervention.
Abraham is not just the patriarch who departs.
He is the model of the man who listens.
Lot is not just the relative caught up in the conflict.
He is the figure of the soul exposed to the risk of captivity.
The battle is not just a biblical episode.
It becomes an image of spiritual struggle.
Liberation is not just an earthly rescue.
It becomes a figure of redemption.
The gold that illuminates the medallions is not purely decorative. In medieval miniatures, gold signifies divine light, sacred space, and the eternal dimension of salvation history. On this page, the gold background transforms Abraham’s journey into a vision: history becomes a figure, the journey becomes a vocation, the battle becomes a struggle of the soul.
Product data sheet
- Product Title: Facsimile Page from the Bible Moralized MS 2554 – The Calling of Abraham and the Liberation of Lot
- Iconographic title: The Calling of Abraham and the Liberation of Lot
- Subject: God calls Abraham; Abraham leaves his land; Lot; war of the kings; liberation of Lot; moralization of the salvation of the soul
- Reference work: Bibbia Moralizzata, MS code 2554
- Location of the original manuscript: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna
- Original date: 13th century
- Cultural area: France, Capetian royal domain
- Category: Cards / Medieval Sacred Art / Bibles and Gospels
- Theme: Abraham, Lot, vocation, detachment from the world, Cross, spiritual struggle, liberation, salvation
- Main decorative element: gold background and illuminated medallions
- Original manuscript from which it is derived: 131 cards, 1032 miniatures
- Dimensions: 26 × 34.4 cm
- Edition processes: fine art printing, gold foil application, hand-treated parchment paper
- Edition: 199 copies
- Price: 149 euros
- Warranty: 24 months
A story in eight medallions
This page from the Bible Moralized MS 2554 can be read as a story in eight pictures.
However, it is not a linear narrative in the modern sense. The Bible Moralized proceeds by correspondences: a biblical episode is paired with its moral, allegorical, or Christological interpretation.
The visual narrative opens with God speaking to Abraham. The patriarch receives the command to leave his land, his relatives, and his father’s house. It is the decisive moment of his vocation: Abraham is called to leave the known world and enter into a promise still invisible.
In the next medallion, Abraham sets out on a journey. The presence of buildings, doors, and moving figures makes visible his departure from his homeland. The journey is not merely geographical: it is spiritual. Abraham leaves behind what he owns and what he knows because he has received a higher word.
The page continues with moralized images of the call. As Abraham leaves his homeland, so the faithful are invited to abandon worldly attachments. The patriarch’s departure becomes an image of conversion: coming out of oneself, abandoning the old world, opening oneself to the promise.
One of the most significant medallions shows figures on the move and references to the Cross. The moralization becomes explicit: following God means leaving the world and taking the path of the Cross. Abraham’s calling is reinterpreted in the light of Christian discipleship.
The central and lower medallions depict battle scenes. Crowned kings, warriors, spears, and swords recall the episode of the war of the kings in the story of Abraham and Lot. The narrative becomes more dramatic: a man who exposes himself to the seduction or violence of the world can fall into a state of imprisonment.
Abraham, however, does not remain inactive. He intervenes, fights, and frees Lot. The patriarch thus appears not only as a man of promise, but as a figure of the righteous man who acts to save those in danger.
The final medallions bring the story to a moral and spiritual level. The demonic figures visualize the soul’s imprisonment, the assault of vice, and the power of sin. The negative scene corresponds to a scene of liberation: as Abraham frees Lot, so Christ frees the soul from the dominion of evil.
The page therefore tells a twofold story: on the one hand, the biblical story of Abraham and Lot; on the other, the spiritual reading of salvation.
The Morality of the Bible Moralized
The word “moralized” is essential to understanding this page.
The Bible Moralized does more than simply illustrate Scripture. It is not a pictorial Bible in the simplest sense of the word. It is a complex work, in which each biblical episode is explained through a moral, allegorical, and theological interpretation.
In the Middle Ages, “morality” didn’t just mean ethical teaching. It had a broader meaning: it meant spiritual interpretation, that is, the ability to read into sacred history a meaning hidden beneath the surface of the narrative.
On this page, Abraham’s story becomes a meditation on vocation, renunciation, and liberation.
Abraham listens: the faithful must listen to the voice of God.
Abraham leaves: the soul must leave the old world.
Lot is exposed to danger: man can become a prisoner of sin.
Abraham fights: the righteous man intervenes to free.
Christ saves: the biblical story finds its spiritual fulfillment.
The passage, therefore, does not simply recount an episode from the Old Testament. It shows the drama of choice: to remain tied to the known land or to follow the promise; to be captured by the powers of the world or to await liberation; to live in the prison of sin or to be brought back to salvation.
This is the strength of the Moralized Bible: to transform history into figure, figure into teaching, image into theology.
Iconographic details
The composition is organized into eight large circular medallions, arranged in two columns and four registers. Each medallion contains a separate scene, but the full meaning arises from the dialogue between all the images.
Above, the scene of Abraham’s calling introduces the theme of vocation. The divine figure addresses the patriarch, while Abraham receives the command with an attitude of listening and obedience. The gestures of the hands and the positioning of the bodies communicate the relationship between divine word and human response.
The departure scene shows Abraham moving, near buildings and gates. Architecture becomes a symbol of the world left behind. Leaving the city means abandoning visible safety to enter a still invisible promise.
In the subsequent medallions, the presence of walking figures and characters gathered around a sacred figure introduces the moralization of the call. The story of Abraham is applied to the faithful: to depart means to detach oneself, to leave, to convert, to follow.
The reference to the Cross is particularly significant. Following Abraham is reinterpreted in the light of Christian following: the true journey is not only that of the patriarch toward a new land, but that of the soul toward salvation.
The military scenes are among the most dynamic in the composition. Crowned kings, armed soldiers, spears, swords, and moving figures transform the narrative into an episode of great visual energy. The War of the Kings is not merely a historical-biblical event: in a moralized reading, it becomes an image of spiritual conflict.
In the lower section, the presence of demons makes explicit the transition from history to morality. Demonic forces represent the soul’s imprisonment, temptation, and the power of sin. The negative scene is contrasted by a scene of salvation, in which a Christological figure frees or protects a female figure, interpretable as the soul or the Church.
The gold background lends the entire page a sacred radiance. In medieval illumination, gold is never merely ornamentation: it is symbolic matter, spiritual light, a visible sign of the presence of the transcendent.
Historical insight
The Bible Moralized represents one of the most refined and complex forms of medieval illumination. Originating in France in the 13th century, likely in connection with the Capetian aristocratic and royal culture, this type of manuscript combined sacred text, imagery, and moral commentary.
Each page was conceived as a visual system. The miniatures served not only to decorate the text, but to interpret it. Scenes from the Old Testament were juxtaposed with episodes from the New Testament, images of the Church, moral figures, or allegorical readings.
The result was a great visual commentary, intended for a cultured audience capable of grasping the interplay of correspondences. The Bible Moralized transformed the sacred book into a sequence of images to be read, meditated upon, and deciphered.
MS 2554, preserved at the Austrian National Library in Vienna, is considered one of the most fascinating examples of this tradition. The richness of its iconography, the quality of its illuminations, and the abundant use of gold make it a supreme testimony to medieval book art.
This page, dedicated to the calling of Abraham, the story of Lot, and his release from captivity, exemplifies the method of the Moralized Bible: starting from the biblical story, reading it as a spiritual figure, and transforming it into a visual lesson on salvation.
This page is not a simple medieval image. It is a small visual architecture composed of eight medallions, in which each scene interacts with the others and transforms the biblical story into a spiritual meditation.
Abraham’s calling, his departure from his homeland, the story of Lot, the war of the kings, and his liberation from captivity form a powerful narrative: from listening to the promise, from detachment from the world to trial, from battle to salvation.
The gold background, deep colors, and circular structure of the medallions make the page visually striking. But its value is not merely aesthetic. It is a work that allows us to enter the heart of medieval culture, where the Bible was read, contemplated, and interpreted through images charged with meaning.
It is an ideal paper for those who love illuminated manuscripts, Gothic art, the Bible, Christian symbolism, medieval history and works capable of combining beauty, storytelling and spiritual depth.
A collectible page for those seeking not only decoration, but also meaning.
A precious testimony from the Bible Moralized MS 2554: eight images to recount Abraham’s calling, and a moral to transform it into vision.
FAQ – The Calling of Abraham and the Liberation of Lot
This page depicts episodes related to the story of Abraham and Lot: Abraham’s divine calling, his departure from his homeland, the reference to Lot, the war of the kings, and the liberation from captivity. Alongside the biblical story, moralized scenes offer a spiritual interpretation.
The eight medallions construct a visual narrative. Some depict biblical episodes, others offer moral and spiritual interpretations. The page should be read as a system of correspondences, typical of the Bible Moralized.
The Bible Moralized is a type of medieval manuscript that not only illustrates the Bible, but also draws moral, allegorical, and theological lessons from it. Each biblical episode is interpreted in light of medieval Christian faith.
Abraham is the positive protagonist of the sequence. He receives God’s call, leaves his homeland, and becomes a model of obedience, faith, and spiritual journey. In the moralized reading, Abraham represents the soul that listens to God and follows the promise.
Lot is the character exposed to danger and captivity. In the moral reading of the page, his story becomes an image of the soul that can be captured by the powers of the world, by sin, or by the seduction of earthly realities.
The battle scenes hark back to the War of the Kings recounted in Genesis, an episode in which Lot was involved and taken prisoner. In the Bible Moralized, this episode also takes on a spiritual significance: the external battle becomes an image of the internal struggle between good and evil.
Demons belong to the moralizing part of the page. They serve to visually represent spiritual imprisonment, temptation, and the power of sin. Lot’s story is thus transformed into a lesson on the need for salvation.
The Cross introduces the Christian interpretation of vocation. Just as Abraham leaves his homeland to follow God, so the faithful are called to leave the world and follow Christ. The patriarch’s departure thus becomes a figure of Christian discipleship.
Gold evokes divine light, the sacredness of the scene, and the eternal dimension of the biblical message. In medieval miniature painting, gold is not merely ornamentation: it is symbolic material, spiritual light, and a sign of the transcendent.
The original manuscript of the Bibbia Moralizzata MS 2554 is preserved at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna.
The Bible Moralized MS 2554 dates back to the 13th century and is linked to medieval French culture, particularly to the Capetian aristocratic and royal sphere.
It is suitable for collectors, enthusiasts of illuminated manuscripts, medieval sacred art, illustrated Bibles, Christian symbolism and works capable of combining beauty, history and spiritual depth.
