Office for Consecrating a Bishop
Texts and Images
Twelve unfinished miniatures, some inked or coloured by a later hand, illustrate the final part of the manuscript. The first miniature shows an archbishop receiving a newly elected bishop (fol. 103r), and the last one depicts the bishop receiving his crosier. In the last two quires (fols. 127-140), the original, elegant free-hand drawings by the Master of the Cambridge Pontifical of Renaud de Bar delineate all elements of the design, from facial features to the ornamental details of borders, initials and bas-de-page scenes.
Bishop-elect kneels before the Archbishop (Office for Consecrating a Bishop)
The Master of the Cambridge Pontifical of Renaud de Bar designed this page, but did not finish painting the decoration. He did, however, apply some paint to the robes, including a delicate lilac colour (hotspot 1). This is the first instance where this colour appears in the manuscript. The miniature was partially completed by a later artist who outlined the figures and added some of the colours, probably including the blue-green and yellow lining of the kneeling bishop’s robe (hotspot 2). A standing bishop is depicted in the historiated initial I, a lion races up the bar border, and men play a game resembling bowls in the bas-de-page scene.