NEW YORK, NY.- The Morgan Library & Museum is presenting The Book of Ruth: Medieval to Modern, running through June 14, 2020. The exhibition celebrates the gift made in 2018 by Joanna S. Rose of The Joanna S. Rose Illuminated Book of Ruth to the Morgan. The accordion-fold vellum manuscript, measuring nine inches tall and an astonishing eighteen feet long, was designed and illuminated by New York artist Barbara Wolff, who worked on the project for two years (2015–17). The Rose Book of Ruth is presented in conversation with twelve manuscripts, drawn from the Morgan’s holdings, that unfold the Christian traditions for illustrating the story of Ruth during the Middle Ages. Through the juxtaposition of the modern manuscript with these ancient works, which date from the twelfth to the fifteenth century and include three leaves from the Morgan’s famed Crusader Bible, the exhibition brings into focus the techniques of medieval illuminators that inspired Wolff, as well as her inventive approach to iconography.

Famine and flight, emigration and immigration, and the concept of foreignness are among the issues touched upon by the anonymous author of the Bible’s book of Ruth, the book’s titular character was a great-grandmother of King David and, in the Christian tradition, an ancestor of Jesus Christ. Most biblical narratives concern kings, priests, and warriors—the lives of men. In the book of Ruth, however, women’s voices speak to us from the world of the early Iron Age in the Middle East. They tell of lives spent in close contact with the natural world, dependent on the gifts of sun, rain, and dew, “each in its season.” In that ancient setting, women sustained the family, the tribe, and the community. The book of Ruth speaks of courage and devotion. Ruth and her daughter-in-law Naomi craft the means of their survival, and their strength helps build the foundation of the House of David. Though each chapter has a distinct character, visual language, and ethical message, together they blend into a pastoral narrative set during the springtime ingathering of the grain.

This exhibition is organized by Roger S. Wieck, the Morgan’s Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript. Wieck says, “I think visitors will be amazed at the inspiration that artists – both medieval and modern – have found in the suspenseful and touching story told in The Book of Ruth.

Boaz Asks Ruth’s Identity; Ruth Gleaning; Ruth Dines with Boaz; Workers Stacking the Crop of Boaz. “Crusader Bible,” added inscriptions in Latin, Persian, and Judeo-Persian, France, Paris, ca. 1250, MS M.638, fol. 17v, Purchased by J.P. Morgan, 1916. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Ruth Threshing and Bringing Grain to Naomi; Naomi Counseling Ruth; Workers Threshing Grain; Ruth Lays at the Feet of Boaz. “Crusader Bible,” added inscriptions in Latin, Persian, and Judeo-Persian, France, Paris, ca. 1250, MS M.638, fol. 18r, Purchased by J.P. Morgan, 1916. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Ruth Carrying Grain for Naomi. Bible, in Latin, France, perhaps Paris, ca. 1245–50, Illuminated by the Morgan 92 Group, MS M.269, fol. 86v, Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1907. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Ruth Carrying Grain for Naomi. Bible, in Latin, France, Paris, ca. 1250, Illuminated by the Christina Workshop, MS G.31, fol. 76v, Gift of the Trustees of the William S. Glazier Collection, 1984. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Boaz Asks Ruth’s Identity. Bible, in Latin, England, perhaps Oxford, ca 1265, MS G.42, fol. 78, Gift of the Trustees of the William S. Glazier Collection, 1984. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Tree of Jesse; David Proclaimed King; David Battling Zion; Episodes from the Life of John the Baptist; Nativity of Christ. Leaf from the “Eadwine Psalter”, England, Canterbury, Christ Church Priory, ca. 1150, MS M.724v, Purchased, 1927. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Naomi Departing Bethlehem; Her Sons, Mahlon and Chilion; Ruth and Orpah; Marriage of Ruth and Boaz; Obed; Jesse. Single Leaf from a Bible, in Latin, France, ca. 1260, MS M.851.1, Gift of the Estate of Belle da Costa Greene, 1951. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

The Family of Naomi and Elimelech Departing Bethlehem. Bible, in French, Illuminated by the Charlemagne Master and the Paris-Acre Master, France, Paris, ca. 1275–80 , MS M.494, fol. 169r, Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1912. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

The Marriage Bed of Ruth and Boaz. Bible, in Latin, Bohemia, Prague or Raudnitz, 1391, Illuminated by Samson Master, the Morgan Master, and others, MS M.833, fol. 88r, Purchased, 1950. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

The Family of Naomi and Elimelech Arriving in Moab. Bible historiale, in French, Illuminated by the workshop of the Boucicaut Master, France, Paris, ca. 1415, MS M.394, fol. 114r, Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1910. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Ruth Departing the Tent of Boaz. The Joanna S. Rose Illuminated Book of Ruth, in Hebrew and English, United States, New York, and Israel, Jerusalem, 2015–17, Commissioned by Joanna S. Rose, written by Izzy Pludwinski, designed and illuminated by Barbara Wolff, MS M.1210, fols. 20r–21r, Gift of Joanna S. Rose, 2018. Photography by Rudi Wolff. Artwork © Barbara Wolff.