1465
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Bible of the Poor (Biblia Pauperum), Pharaoh's Army Drowned in the Red Sea; Baptism of Christ; and Moses' Spies Returning with Grapes from Canaan Esau Selling Jacob his Birthright; Temptation of Christ; and Temptation of Adam and Eve is a 1465 by Unknown, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see three Bible stories side by side on a single page: Pharaoh’s soldiers drowning, Christ being baptized, and spies carrying a giant grapevine. This page comes from a book called *Biblia Pauperum*—"Bible of the Poor." It was made for people who couldn’t read or afford big Bibles. The images were carved from wood blocks, then stamped and colored by hand. The book paired Old and New Testament scenes to teach lessons. Look up *germany or the netherlands, 15th century* to see more of these block-printed books.
This hand-colored leaf is from the blockbook Biblia Pauperum (Bible of the Poor), which served as an educational handbook for laymen and clerics. Blockbooks, in which images and text were carved in relief from a single block of wood, are the earliest form of printed text in Europe. On each page, two Old Testament episodes flank a New Testament scene, implying a connection between the stories. At left is Christ’s baptism between the Pharaoh’s drowned army and spies returning from Canaan. To the right is Christ’s temptation bordered by Esau selling his birthright to Jacob and the temptation of…
This sheet was hand-colored with a limited palette, so that black, for example, plays dual roles of the color of hair, and the shadow on a building.
Read the full account in the museum source.
![The Destruction of the Egyptian Idols [verso]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/646d3c2b8098cfee/thumb.webp)
!["Do Not Turn Back When You Arrive at the End" [fol. 26 verso / 27 recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/e11e5d3478112a7e/thumb.webp)
