State Library of Bavaria:
The manuscript commissioned by Louis VII around 1430 is the first surviving illustrated German translation of the New Testament. In the scrupulously written text, the writer left some space for the initials and miniatures, but finally only around one fifth of the manuscript was illuminated in the period of its origin. The miniatures of this earlier stage were painted by three different illustrators or workshops, which can be localised in Regensburg. It remains a mystery why the work on the illustration of the manuscript was stopped following sheet 62. A lack of funds does not seem to be the reason. Other works commissioned by Louis were not finished either, in particular his tomb, for which a draft was made by Hans Multscher that is kept in the Bavaria National Museum today. Even though still unfinished, the codex was bound still during the lifetime of its initiator. This is evidenced by his coats of arms which have survived on the lining paper of the binding reworked in Gotha during the 19th century. The Bible codex is most probably mentioned in the list of books which Louis took with him in 1446 to his incarceration in Burghausen.
After the decease of Louis, Henry of Landshut acquired his property, which was handed down via Henry's son Louis IX to George, the last male successor of the Landshut line of the Bavarian house of Wittelsbach. His attempt to bequeath the duchy to his son in law Rupert of Palatinate as his successor in Landshut resulted in the Landshut war of succession and the death of Rupert. For Rupert's sons Ottheinrich (1502 to 1559) and Philip the duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg was formed in 1505, and they also inherited the displaceable belongings, the so-called fahrende Habe, of the Landshut line from the castles of Landshut and Burghausen. In this manner, the manuscripts of Louis the Bearded came to be acquired by the young Count Palatine Ottheinrich, together with further books formerly owned by the Landshut dukes.
The manuscript thus became one of the first specimens in Ottheinrich's collection of books which grew enormously later on. In the year 1530 he commissioned the painter Mathis Gerung from Lauingen to complete the illustration of the Bible manuscript. This is evidenced not only by the above-mentioned coat of arms, but also by two contracts concerning this order, one dated 23 December 1530, the other 24 September 1531. The illumination was completed in the year 1532. Mathis Gerung complemented the 29 old miniatures by a total of 117 new ones within a period of two years... In the miniatures on the Apocalypse Gerung essentially kept to the series of woodcuts crafted by Dürer in 1498. The Ottheinrich Bible, the earliest work by Mathis Gerung commissioned by Ottheinrich, is generally regarded as his best accomplished work.
