The Morgan: ‘The Power of the Psalms in Medieval Life’ Opens September 12, 2025

 The Morgan Library & Museum will present Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life, the first exhibition of its kind devoted to the importance of the Psalms throughout medieval art, prayer, and everyday life. On view from September 12, 2025, through January 4, 2026, Sing a New Song traces the impact of the Psalms on people in medieval Europe from the sixth to the sixteenth century, encompassing daily practices and performance, as well as the creation and illumination of Psalters (Books of Psalms). Drawing on five years of scholarly research, the exhibition and accompanying publication take the Psalms out of their established place in religious texts and paint a vibrant picture of the people who used them—men, women, and children—both religious and lay.

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Image: Chanting Clerics, from the “Windmill Psalter,” England, London, late thirteenth century. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; MS M.102, fol. 100r (detail). Photography by Carmen González Fraile.

Psalms are some of the most beloved texts in the Abrahamic traditions of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These sacred poems constitute the longest and most popular book in the Bible. They include expressions of lament and loss, petitions and confessions, as well as exclamations of joy and thanksgiving—universal themes that speak to what it means to be human. Included in this show are the varieties of books that aided in these devotions—Psalters, Breviaries, Missals, and Graduals, among others—some of which were exquisitely illuminated. The exhibition explores how the Psalms were used, both at church and at home; how they were illuminated; how they were performed; and how they appear at both the beginning and the end of life. 

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“The Morgan is very pleased to present this comprehensive, interdisciplinary exhibition, which draws on years of research into a topic that is largely unknown to the general public,” said Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director of the Morgan Library & Museum. “It continues a now well- established tradition at the Morgan of organizing ambitious medieval projects that reflect the strength of our holdings and our commitment to making the latest scholarship available to as wide an audience as possible.”

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In the manuscript traditions of many cultures across Europe, North Africa, and West Asia, more copies of the Book of Psalms survive than any other type of text. The prayer book known as the Book of Hours was based on the Psalms and was a bestseller among laypeople in the fifteenth century. Through translations into Latin and the vernacular, the Psalms permeated the intellectual culture of medieval Europe. Children used Psalters to learn to read, patrons commissioned versions in their native languages, and theologians authored the most influential interpretive writings of the Middle Ages around the Psalms.

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Image: Virgin and Christ in a Grape Arbor, from the “Hours of Catherine of Cleves,” in Latin, Netherlands, Utrecht, ca. 1440, illuminated by the Master of Catherine of Cleves. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; MS M.917/945, p. 161.

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“This exhibition and the accompanying publication really do ‘sing a new song’ as they explore, in a manner that has
not been done before, how life and art in the Middle Ages and Renaissance were permeated by psalms,” said Roger S.
Wieck, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum. “Along with my colleagues Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts; Joshua O’Driscoll, Associate Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts; and Frederica Law-Turner, Contributing Guest Curator, all of whom helped to shape and broaden the exhibition, I am grateful that the Morgan is able to present an exhibition and handbook as a frame of reference for understanding the role of the Psalms in medieval life.” 

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More than any other text, the Psalms informed the language of the liturgy, and the Psalter served effectively as the prayer book of the church. Priests, monks, and nuns were required to pray all 150 psalms weekly. Laypeople across Europe, imitating these practices, fueled a demand for Psalters. The exhibition highlights Psalters across varying cultures, including an extremely rare Hebrew Psalter from a Jewish community in Tuscany as well as one of the very first printed Hebrew Bibles.

Psalms were also performed or sung by monks, clergy, and laypeople, using books such as Psalters, Breviaries, Antiphonaries, and Books of Hours, which were often commissioned by the wealthy and sumptuously illuminated. Women found new ways to engage with books thanks to the proliferation of texts in everyday languages. Wealthy women were known to commission their own Psalters and Books of Hours for personal use, as seen in the celebrated “Hours of Catherine of Cleves,” commissioned by the Duchess of Guelders in 1440.

The exhibition concludes with a moving example of the use of psalms as solace, seen through the Prayer Book of Sir Thomas More. Heavily annotated by the future saint, who kept it with him while incarcerated in the Tower of London in the months before his execution, the Prayer Book shaped More’s faith, inspired his writings, and offered him comfort.

Additional highlights of the exhibition include a Winchester Bible leaf (England, ca. 1160–80) from the Morgan’s collection; Isaac ben Ovadiah’s “Books of Truth” (Psalms, Job, Proverbs); the Scenes from the Life of Saint Augustine of Hippo altarpiece, on loan from the Met Cloisters; and exemplary loans from the New York Public Library, including the “Tickhill Psalter.”

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Organization and Sponsorship

Organized by Roger S. Wieck, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts; in collaboration with Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts; Frederica Law-Turner, Contributing Guest Curator; and Joshua O’Driscoll, Associate Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.

Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life is made possible by an anonymous donor, in memory of Melvin R. Seiden. Generous support is provided by Mr. G. Scott Clemons and Ms. Karyn Joaquino, the Lucy Ricciardi Family Exhibition Fund, Martha J. Fleischman, and Dr. Wendy A. Stein and Mr. Bart Friedman, with assistance from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Caroline Sharfman Bacon, and Dr. Robert DaVanzo. 

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Publication

A beautifully illustrated art historical reference book, which explores in depth the central role of the Book of Psalms in the Middle Ages from the sixth to the sixteenth century, accompanies the exhibition. Edited by Roger S. Wieck, assisted by Emerald Lucas, the book features contributions by Deirdre Jackson, Frederica Law-Turner, Joshua O’Driscoll, and Roger S. Wieck. Published by GILES, in association with the Morgan Library & Museum. Available in the Morgan Shop, in store and online, in September for $44.95.

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Programs

Sing a New Song is accompanied by a robust series of programs: a curator roundtable with all four curators on September 17; a Hebrew-language tour of the exhibition on September 25; a performance by Beijing-based artist Bingyi, inspired by Psalm 104, on October 5; an intimate vocal workshop, featuring music taken from the Psalters in the exhibition, on October 18; a curator-led exhibition tour on November 14; and a screening of the 2022 documentary film Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, on November 15. Morgan After Hours: Illuminated Evening will take place on October 23, with a focus on art making and meditation. 

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For more information and programs, visit themorgan.org/programs/list.

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A museum and independent research library located in the heart of New York City, The Morgan Library & Museum began as the personal library of financier, collector, and cultural benefactor Pierpont Morgan. The Morgan offers visitors close encounters with great works of human accomplishment in a setting treasured for its intimate scale and historic significance. Its collection of manuscripts, rare books, music, drawings, and works of art comprises a unique and dynamic record of civilization, as well as an incomparable repository of ideas and of the creative process from 4000 BC to the present.

The Morgan Library & Museum | 225 Madison Avenue | 212-685-0008 | themorgan.org

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