ABSTRACT
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, codex grec 54 (Paris, BnF, gr. 54; Paris 54, or P54) is one of the most ambitious and complex manuscripts produced during the early Palaeologan period. Its full-page evangelist portraits, extensive narrative cycle, and unique polychromatic bilingual texts have garnered scholarly attention since Gabriel Millet published some of its illustrations in 1916.1 More than eighty-five years later, however, little is known about this thirteenth-century Greek and Latin Gospel book. The circumstances of its commission are undocumented and we do not understand why its narrative cycle, Latin text, and ornament remain incomplete. This study addresses the following questions: What circumstances led to the creation of Paris 54? Who commissioned it and for what purpose? How was a deluxe manuscript such as this produced? Why was it left unfinished? How does it relate to other Byzantine illustrated Gospel books?
