The Luttrell Psalter is a large-format illustrated book – a one-off – commissioned by the wealthy English Luttrell family in the late Middle Ages.
As well as containing the biblical psalms, the Luttrell Psalter was decorated with floral embellishments around the capital letters and a wide variety of marginal images showing everyday life from that period.
This post is part of a series, introducing my book Psalms for the City.
Back to Main Psalms Page
When it first came to people’s attention, after a long period in obscurity, it was recognised as a rich source of insight into the way people lived.
For a very long time, I’ve been grabbed by the idea of a modern version.
The picture above is a composite, a digital collage by me. I took a screenshot on Google Street View of a road near my home, drew on top of it an image from the Bible, of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac, and inserted that blended image into the space within a large illuminated capital from the Luttrell Psalter.
I went on to draw a number of other biblical images onto screenshots from Street View. Here they are, in approximate biblical order (not the order I drew them).
What Next?
I’m starting a new series of collaborative livestreams combining video, audio, illustration and storytelling. A kind of show-and-tell, in which a whole new piece of work is created.
In this series of livestreams, I will be “walking” around places of interest using Google Street View, as I did in my month-long 2021 Desktop Pilgrimage (London to Canterbury, despite lockdown).
I’ll be doing it in company with others (as we did then). I hope these will include artists, storytellers, local experts – and you.
I recorded a practice livestream on YouTube to show what might typically be involved. It was 30 minutes, which I’ve cut down here to just three:
Click to play the video
Buy Psalms for the City
on Amazon or Waterstones