Winchester Psalter

The manuscript now has 142 vellum leaves of 32 x 22.25 cm, which after a fire in 1731 have been cut and mounted individually and rebound.

They are nearly all divided horizontally into two or three compartments with different scenes, creating an unusually extended narrative cycle of more than eighty scenes covering the Old Testament (6 pages), the Life of the Virgin and Life of Christ (23 pages) and several scenes covering the Second Coming and Last Judgement (9 pages) - a number of non-narrative subjects such as the Jesse Tree, Christ in Majesty and an enthroned Virgin being included in these figures.

According to Heslop, this is deliberately done to reflect the social status of the subjects depicted;[4] Haney considers it may be the result of an artist working closely with a less skilled assistant.

Other details show awareness of Carolingian and Ottonian traditions, while much else continues Anglo-Saxon and English Romanesque iconography.

[7] The manuscript contains: Several pieces of evidence suggest that the patron was Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to 1171: Some pieces of evidence suggest instead that the manuscript was not made for Henry of Blois, and may instead have been made for a woman, although the personal Latin prayers use masculine forms:[9] It is not known where the manuscript was between the 13th century and 1638, when it appears in a catalogue of the collection formed by the antiquary Sir Robert Cotton between about 1588 and 1629, and added to by his son and grandson.