The Cardeña Beatus is the most beautiful codex in the later series featuring the Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Beatus, the monk from Liébana. It can be dated to around 1175-1185 and was a model for other codices. It is the work of two miniaturists and one of the most lavish, artistically elaborate and finest quality codices in its group (Stemma II, branch B).

Its iconographical cycle includes the Preliminaries (Cross of Oviedo, the four Evangelists, Genealogies), the Revelation to St John and its commentary, and the Tables of the Antichrist. Its 51 extant miniatures are extremely beautiful and a reflection of the skill, subtlety and meticulousness of the artists who illustrated the commentary by Beatus. The entire manuscript is characterised on the one hand by elaborate and delicate representations of figures and, on the other, by the vivid and intense colours of the grounds, all lavishly embellished with gold leaf.

The vibrant palette based on red, blue and green tones combined with solid gold leaf on haloes and the usual architectural elements helps enhance its luxurious decoration, perfectly in keeping with the text transcribed by skilled copyists, some of whom, like St Martin of Leon, may have grumbled about the terrible pain inflicted on their backs and shoulders by such hard, never-ending toil. The illumination, dated around 1175-1185, is clearly influenced by insular art and is vaguely reminiscent of Carolingian art.

The Cardeña Beatus reached the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in 1871 incomplete. In this identical reproduction, M. Moleiro Editor has brought together for the FIRST AND ONLY TIME, all the surviving, dispersed fragments of this spectacular Beatus.

"Despite the missing folios, what remains is sufficient to say that this is one of the most magnificent, lavish and finest quality copies ever produced (...) The entire manuscript is characterised by a generous use of blue, the most expensive colour, and an abundance of gold.”

Joaquín Yarza
Beato de Liébana. Manuscritos iluminados