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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Burgundy, c.1490]145 x 102mm. iv + 142 + iii leaves: 16, 27(of 8 + first leaf, lacking vii and viii), 35(?of 8 lacking i, now f.7, vii and viii), 46(of 8 lacking i and viii), 5-88, 93(of 4 lacking iv), 107(of 8 lacking i), 115(of 6, vi cancelled blank), 12-138, 146, 156(of 8 lacking iii and vi), 166(of 8 lacking ii and vii), 178, 186, 19-208, 217(of 8, viii cancelled blank), 18 lines written in black ink in a lettre bâtarde between two verticals and 19 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 87 x 54 mm, rubrics in red, one- to five-line initials in liquid gold on grounds alternately blue and pink patterned with gold, 24 CALENDAR MINIATURES IN ARCHITECTURAL FRAMES also enclosing the text, ONE HISTORIATED INITIAL AND 25 SMALL MINIATURES EACH ACCOMPANIED BY A BORDER in the outer margin of acanthus and flower and fruit sprays with an infill of burnished gold disks, many with birds, animals and grotesques, TWELVE LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES, ONE FULL-PAGE, WITH FULL BORDERS of a similar type, some on divided grounds (lacking twelve written leaves, one with a large miniature and possibly five with small miniatures, lower margins of ff.8-10 replaced, flaking from miniature f.7v, Calendar rubbed, some borders worn, border motif erased f.95v, some initials rubbed). Early 20th-century blind-stamped calf.
PROVENANCE:
1. The manuscript was written for use in Burgundy: the Calendar includes in gold Sts Didier of Langres (May 23), Claude of Besançon (6 June) and Philibert of Tournus (Aug. 20); the litany names Didier and Mammes of Langres and Benignus of Dijon, both of whom appear in the usual alternating red and blue in the calendar (Aug. 17 and Nov. 24). The Master of the Burgundian Prelates, responsible with his workshop for the illumination, was probably centred in Dijon or Autun. The coat of arms painted over the border decoration on f.7v, azure an oak tree or on a crescent argent, might be connected with the family of Broch; by the 17th century the Broch d'Hotelans established at Vesoul in the Franche Comté bore a similar charge on gules.
2. A 17th-century hand has added instructions for asperging with holy water, f.129; a prayer for France, probably added during the Revolutionary upheavals, may be by the hand that recorded hearing three masses 23 April 1805, f.142v.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-6; Obsecro te ff.8-11v; Memorials, ff.11v-13v: Sts Michael f.11v, John the Baptist f.12, James f.12v, Lawrence f.13, Mary Magdalen (lacking end) f.13v; Gospel extracts ff.14-18v: St John f.14, St Luke f.15, St Matthew f.16v, St Mark (lacking end) f.18; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.19-71v: matins (lacking bifolium with opening and leaf at third lesson) f.19, lauds f.27, prime f.37v, terce f.41v, sext f.44v, none f.47v, vespers f.51, compline (lacking final leaf with prayers) f.56v, seasonal variants (lacking opening) f.60; Hours of the Cross ff.72-75; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.75v-78v; ruled blank f.79; Penitential Psalms ff.80-91; litany ff.91-95; Office of the Dead, use of Rome (lacking bifolium of second leaf and leaf with opening of matins, bifolium of leaf with first lesson and leaf with parts of psalms 24 and 26) ff.95v-119v; Passion according to St John ff.120-129; Suffrages ff.129v-142: for the dead f.129v, the Trinity f.130v, God the Father f.131, the Son f.131v, the Holy Spirit f.132, Sts John the Evangelist f.132v, Peter and Paul f.133, Stephen f.133v, Christopher f.134, Sebastian f.135, Denis f.136, Nicholas f.137, Claude f.137v, Anthony Abbot f.138v, Anne f.139, Katherine f.140, Margaret f.140v, Barbara f.141, Apollonia f.142.
ILLUMINATION:
The Master of the Burgundian Prelates was named from his work for ecclesiatics from great Burgundian families like the Rolin (Breviary for the bishop of Autun, San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1077), Clugny (Missal for the bishop of Tournai, Siena, Biblioteca communale, ms X.V.1), Chalon (Pontifical for the bishop of Autun, Autun, Bibl. mun. ms 129) and Chambellan (Missal for the Abbot of St-Etienne, Dijon, Paris, BnF, ms lat.879). His activity spanned the last quarter of the 15th century; the costume depicted and the border formats date this handsome example of his style to c.1490 (see N. Reynaud, 'Un peintre français de la fin du XVe siècle: le Maître des prélats bourguignons', Etudes del'art français offertes à Charles Sterling, 1975, pp.151-63). He and his collaborators were also responsible for numerous books of hours, aimed more at the laity, which were not, however, produced to a set format. Each was individually crafted with different combinations of decorative forms. The present lot draws on the entire vocabulary from full-page miniature to historiated initial, accompanied by lively borders in the same rich colours. Inhabited by imaginative drolleries, they are very like those in an earlier book of hours with miniatures in the Burgundian Prelates style in the New York Public Library, Spencer 43 (J.J.G. Alexander et al., The Splendor of the Word, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the New York Public Library, 2005, cat.58).
Manuscripts attributed to the Master show the work of several illuminators. The figures here have the typically elongated bodies with simplified contours and elegant ovoid heads with economically defined features. Characteristics of this particular hand are the warmer flesh tones and the concentration on gold hatched highlights to the virtual exclusion of the darker roughly hatched modelling found elsewhere. His colours are also richer: gold is set against a warm deep red and matching blue, instead of the more usual pink and lighter blue, together with a stronger green and the addition of a dusky purple. He has a particular talent for landscape, seen especially in the Calendar where the signs of the zodiac are scaled down to inhabit rural scenes. An impressionistic hazy distance is often combined with minute details, like the men walking across the far plains behind King David, f.72, or, even on the scale of the calendar miniatures, the tiny carts that cross the countryside behind Scorpio, f.5v.
These traits are all found in a later book of hours in the British Library, Sloane ms 2419, which was owned by Louise of Savoy, mother of the king, Francis I, by 1516. The miniature of St John on Patmos in the Sloane Hours is a simplified version of that in the present lot (J. Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours, 2004, no 3). Allowing for the Italianate style of the Sloane Hours, the same hand probably worked on both manuscripts. One of the most accomplished painters in the group, this illuminator gave a higher degree of finish to his miniatures than the somewhat sketchy effects often associated with the Master of the Burgundian Prelates.
The subject of the full-page miniature is St John on Patmos f.7v.
The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows:
f.27 the Visitation; f.37v the Nativity; f.41v Gold rays alone announce the birth of Christ to two shepherds and a spinning shepherdess; f.44v the Adoration of the Magi; f.47v the Presentation in the Temple; f.51 the Flight into Egypt; f.56v the Coronation of the Virgin; f.72 the Crucifixion; f.75 Pentecost; f.80 David at prayer before his palace; f.95v Job on the dungheap
The subjects, all at half- or three-quarter-length, of the small miniatures are as follows: Sts Michael f.11v, John the Baptist f.12, James f.12v, Lawrence f.13, Mary Magdalen f13v, John the Evangelist f.14, Luke f.15, Matthew f.16v, Mark f.18, Job on the dungheap, seated at full-length, f.102v, Christ carrying the Cross f.120, Sts John the Evangelist f.132v, Peter and Paul f.133, Stephen f.133v, Christopher f.134, Sebastian f.135, Denis f.136, Nicholas f.137, Claude f.137v, Anthony Abbot f.138v, Anne f.139, Katherine f.140, Margaret f.140v, Barbara f.141, Apollonia f.142.
The subjects of the calendar miniatures, placed above the two columns of text, are as follows: a man having discarded his shoes to toast his feet at a fire, Aquarius standing in a river and pouring water over himself, f.1; two men digging, Pisces swimming in a pond in the foreground of a rustic scene, f.1v; pruning vines, Aries against a landscape, f.2; lovers on horseback fording a river, Taurus in a fenced paddock, f.2v; lovers exchanging may branches, Gemini standing in a lake, perhaps to explain their nudity, f.3; two men scything, Cancer in a pool before a deep landscape vista, f.3v; three men harvesting corn, Leo emerging from his cave, f.4; two men threshing, Virgo reading outside her dwelling, f.4v; a sower, Libra held by a woman at a window weighing something for a man on the other side of the counter, f.5; treading the grapes, Scorpio before a landscape, f.5v; knocking down acorns for pigs, Sagittarius hovers over a rocky river valley, f.6; a man and a woman baking bread, Capricorn grazing, f.6v.
The subject of the historiated initial is the Virgin at three-quarter length with the Child, f.8.
[Burgundy, c.1490]145 x 102mm. iv + 142 + iii leaves: 1
PROVENANCE:
1. The manuscript was written for use in Burgundy: the Calendar includes in gold Sts Didier of Langres (May 23), Claude of Besançon (6 June) and Philibert of Tournus (Aug. 20); the litany names Didier and Mammes of Langres and Benignus of Dijon, both of whom appear in the usual alternating red and blue in the calendar (Aug. 17 and Nov. 24). The Master of the Burgundian Prelates, responsible with his workshop for the illumination, was probably centred in Dijon or Autun. The coat of arms painted over the border decoration on f.7v, azure an oak tree or on a crescent argent, might be connected with the family of Broch; by the 17th century the Broch d'Hotelans established at Vesoul in the Franche Comté bore a similar charge on gules.
2. A 17th-century hand has added instructions for asperging with holy water, f.129; a prayer for France, probably added during the Revolutionary upheavals, may be by the hand that recorded hearing three masses 23 April 1805, f.142v.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-6; Obsecro te ff.8-11v; Memorials, ff.11v-13v: Sts Michael f.11v, John the Baptist f.12, James f.12v, Lawrence f.13, Mary Magdalen (lacking end) f.13v; Gospel extracts ff.14-18v: St John f.14, St Luke f.15, St Matthew f.16v, St Mark (lacking end) f.18; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.19-71v: matins (lacking bifolium with opening and leaf at third lesson) f.19, lauds f.27, prime f.37v, terce f.41v, sext f.44v, none f.47v, vespers f.51, compline (lacking final leaf with prayers) f.56v, seasonal variants (lacking opening) f.60; Hours of the Cross ff.72-75; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.75v-78v; ruled blank f.79; Penitential Psalms ff.80-91; litany ff.91-95; Office of the Dead, use of Rome (lacking bifolium of second leaf and leaf with opening of matins, bifolium of leaf with first lesson and leaf with parts of psalms 24 and 26) ff.95v-119v; Passion according to St John ff.120-129; Suffrages ff.129v-142: for the dead f.129v, the Trinity f.130v, God the Father f.131, the Son f.131v, the Holy Spirit f.132, Sts John the Evangelist f.132v, Peter and Paul f.133, Stephen f.133v, Christopher f.134, Sebastian f.135, Denis f.136, Nicholas f.137, Claude f.137v, Anthony Abbot f.138v, Anne f.139, Katherine f.140, Margaret f.140v, Barbara f.141, Apollonia f.142.
ILLUMINATION:
The Master of the Burgundian Prelates was named from his work for ecclesiatics from great Burgundian families like the Rolin (Breviary for the bishop of Autun, San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1077), Clugny (Missal for the bishop of Tournai, Siena, Biblioteca communale, ms X.V.1), Chalon (Pontifical for the bishop of Autun, Autun, Bibl. mun. ms 129) and Chambellan (Missal for the Abbot of St-Etienne, Dijon, Paris, BnF, ms lat.879). His activity spanned the last quarter of the 15th century; the costume depicted and the border formats date this handsome example of his style to c.1490 (see N. Reynaud, 'Un peintre français de la fin du XVe siècle: le Maître des prélats bourguignons', Etudes del'art français offertes à Charles Sterling, 1975, pp.151-63). He and his collaborators were also responsible for numerous books of hours, aimed more at the laity, which were not, however, produced to a set format. Each was individually crafted with different combinations of decorative forms. The present lot draws on the entire vocabulary from full-page miniature to historiated initial, accompanied by lively borders in the same rich colours. Inhabited by imaginative drolleries, they are very like those in an earlier book of hours with miniatures in the Burgundian Prelates style in the New York Public Library, Spencer 43 (J.J.G. Alexander et al., The Splendor of the Word, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the New York Public Library, 2005, cat.58).
Manuscripts attributed to the Master show the work of several illuminators. The figures here have the typically elongated bodies with simplified contours and elegant ovoid heads with economically defined features. Characteristics of this particular hand are the warmer flesh tones and the concentration on gold hatched highlights to the virtual exclusion of the darker roughly hatched modelling found elsewhere. His colours are also richer: gold is set against a warm deep red and matching blue, instead of the more usual pink and lighter blue, together with a stronger green and the addition of a dusky purple. He has a particular talent for landscape, seen especially in the Calendar where the signs of the zodiac are scaled down to inhabit rural scenes. An impressionistic hazy distance is often combined with minute details, like the men walking across the far plains behind King David, f.72, or, even on the scale of the calendar miniatures, the tiny carts that cross the countryside behind Scorpio, f.5v.
These traits are all found in a later book of hours in the British Library, Sloane ms 2419, which was owned by Louise of Savoy, mother of the king, Francis I, by 1516. The miniature of St John on Patmos in the Sloane Hours is a simplified version of that in the present lot (J. Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours, 2004, no 3). Allowing for the Italianate style of the Sloane Hours, the same hand probably worked on both manuscripts. One of the most accomplished painters in the group, this illuminator gave a higher degree of finish to his miniatures than the somewhat sketchy effects often associated with the Master of the Burgundian Prelates.
The subject of the full-page miniature is St John on Patmos f.7v.
The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows:
f.27 the Visitation; f.37v the Nativity; f.41v Gold rays alone announce the birth of Christ to two shepherds and a spinning shepherdess; f.44v the Adoration of the Magi; f.47v the Presentation in the Temple; f.51 the Flight into Egypt; f.56v the Coronation of the Virgin; f.72 the Crucifixion; f.75 Pentecost; f.80 David at prayer before his palace; f.95v Job on the dungheap
The subjects, all at half- or three-quarter-length, of the small miniatures are as follows: Sts Michael f.11v, John the Baptist f.12, James f.12v, Lawrence f.13, Mary Magdalen f13v, John the Evangelist f.14, Luke f.15, Matthew f.16v, Mark f.18, Job on the dungheap, seated at full-length, f.102v, Christ carrying the Cross f.120, Sts John the Evangelist f.132v, Peter and Paul f.133, Stephen f.133v, Christopher f.134, Sebastian f.135, Denis f.136, Nicholas f.137, Claude f.137v, Anthony Abbot f.138v, Anne f.139, Katherine f.140, Margaret f.140v, Barbara f.141, Apollonia f.142.
The subjects of the calendar miniatures, placed above the two columns of text, are as follows: a man having discarded his shoes to toast his feet at a fire, Aquarius standing in a river and pouring water over himself, f.1; two men digging, Pisces swimming in a pond in the foreground of a rustic scene, f.1v; pruning vines, Aries against a landscape, f.2; lovers on horseback fording a river, Taurus in a fenced paddock, f.2v; lovers exchanging may branches, Gemini standing in a lake, perhaps to explain their nudity, f.3; two men scything, Cancer in a pool before a deep landscape vista, f.3v; three men harvesting corn, Leo emerging from his cave, f.4; two men threshing, Virgo reading outside her dwelling, f.4v; a sower, Libra held by a woman at a window weighing something for a man on the other side of the counter, f.5; treading the grapes, Scorpio before a landscape, f.5v; knocking down acorns for pigs, Sagittarius hovers over a rocky river valley, f.6; a man and a woman baking bread, Capricorn grazing, f.6v.
The subject of the historiated initial is the Virgin at three-quarter length with the Child, f.8.
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