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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[northern France, c.1500]170 x 115mm. ii + 112 + ii leaves: 19(of 8 + i), 2-68, 76, 94, 107(of 8 lacking i), 114, 122, 13-178, 24 lines written in brown ink in a lettre bâtarde between two verticals and 25 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 101 x 68mm, rubrics in pink, text capitals touched yellow, one- and two-line initials and line-endings in liquid gold on grounds alternately of red and blue, three- and four-line initials with staves of scrolled stems in white and grey on grounds of liquid gold with flower or fruit infills, NUMEROUS BORDERS IN THE OUTER MARGIN of flower and fruit sprays and acanthus scrolls on divided grounds of colours and liquid gold, accompanying all two-line initials, THIRTEEN FULL BORDERS of similar type with the addition of birds, beasts and drolleries, FIVE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES IN RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURAL FRAMES (lacking one miniature leaf and possibly one gathering with calendar, top of architectural frames trimmed, slight wear to miniature frames and a few borders). Panelled tan morocco stamped in brown, spine in six compartments, title gilt, by Rivière and Sons.
PROVENANCE:
1. The book was probably illuminated in Paris in a style found in locally produced books and in some manuscripts written in Rouen. It may have been written in either centre of book production: the unusual sequence of prayers ff.102-106v is also found in a manuscript Hours from Paris (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, W228) and one possibly from Rouen (Paris, BnF, ms lat.18020) and in late 15th-century printed books of hours for Paris and Rouen use (see L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, II, France 1420-1540, 1992, cat.193). Like the printed Horae, this manuscript was probably made for the open market; prayers are in the masculine.
2. Bound by Rivière for the Boston booksellers and publishers Charles E. Lauriat and Co.
CONTENT:
Gospel extracts ff.2-11: St John f.2, St Luke f.2v, St Matthew f.3v, St Mark f.4v, Passion according to St John, followed by prayers, f.5; Obsecro te ff.11-13; O intemerata ff.13v-15v; prayers to the Virgin, opening Ave cuius concepcio, ff.15v-17; Avete omnes fideles to be said when passing a cemetery, as instructed in the French rubruc at the end, f.17-17v; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.19-55v: matins f.19, lauds f.26, prime f.31v, terce f.33v, sext f.35v, none f.37, vespers f.39, compline f.43, seasonal variants f.50; Hours of the Cross ff.57-58; Hours of the Holy Spirit, omitting sext and lacking compline,ff.59-59v; Penitential Psalms ff.60-67; Litany ff.67-72; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.74-91; Memorials ff.92-112: the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit f.92, the Holy Face f.93, Stabat mater f.93v, Sts Michael f.95, Peter and Paul f.95v, James f.96, all Apostles f.96, Stephen f.96v, Lawrence f.96v, Christopher f.97, Sebastian f,97v, Denis f.98, Nicholas f.98v, Claud f.98v, Anthony f.99v, Anne f.99v, Mary Magdalen, f.100, Katherine f.100v, Margaret f.100v, Barbara f.101, Apollonia f.101v, prayers necessaires a dire to Christ on waking, at various points during the mass, against tempest, for the king, against temptation etc f.102; Seven prayers of St Gregory with indulgence Domine ihesu christe adoro te in cruce pendentem f.106v; Litany of the Virgin, preceded by French rubric recounting how Mary communicated it to a priest called Arnold, with the assurance that those who recite it on a Saturday will see the Virgin five times f.107v.
ILLUMINATION:
The richly coloured miniatures share many stylistic traits with those of the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs, named from a copy of the French translation made in Rouen and presented to Louis XII in the early years of the 16th century (Paris, BnF, ms fr.594). Despite his Rouen connections, the Master frequently worked with the Parisian Jean Pichore and so was probably also based in the capital in the first decades of the 16th century. He and Pichore share many stylistic traits making the boundaries of their work difficult to define, so that some have argued that only one artist, the documented Jean Pichore, was responsible for the entire oeuvre. It is possible, however, to discern two distinct personalities and the artist of the present lot follows the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs, rather than Pichore, in the more rectangular contours of his large-handed figures and in the contrast between his snub-nosed women and beakily nosed men. For the Master, see C. Zöhl, Jean Pichore, Buchmaler, graphiker und Verleger in Paris um 1500, 2004, esp. pp.49-54; F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, pp.415-418.
The full-page miniatures and their classicising frames with sculptures may have been inspired by the work of the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs in the so-called Petites heures de Anne de Bretagne, probably wrongly associated with the French Queen (Paris, BnF, ms n. acq. lat, 3027). The Petites heures also exemplifies the Master's liking for typological pairings of Old and New Testament scenes, in a way not conventional in French books of hours but evoked here in the rare depiction of the Fall of the Rebel Angels, f.1. Taken from Revelations, the subject was presumably chosen to stand for the Creation, since it appears beside the opening words of St John's Gospel 'In the beginning', themselves taken from the opening of Genesis. The decision not to illustrate all four Gospels may have freed the miniaturist from producing the expected author portrait of St John.
The appeal of the book lies not only in its miniatures but in its accomplished borders. They unify the book through their constant vocabulary, while demonstrating great inventiveness in the shaping of the divided grounds and in the animals and grotesques that enliven the full borders. Enriched by their contacts with printed books, the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs and his associate, Jean Pichore, were much in demand for their mastery of illumination and book design which set standards fruitfully emulated by their followers.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows:
f.1 The Fall of the Rebel Angels, watched by God the Father; f.18v The Annunciation; f.56v The Crucifixion, an angel with the column of the Flagellation in the framing; f.58v Pentecost; f.73v Job on the dungheap
[northern France, c.1500]170 x 115mm. ii + 112 + ii leaves: 1
PROVENANCE:
1. The book was probably illuminated in Paris in a style found in locally produced books and in some manuscripts written in Rouen. It may have been written in either centre of book production: the unusual sequence of prayers ff.102-106v is also found in a manuscript Hours from Paris (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, W228) and one possibly from Rouen (Paris, BnF, ms lat.18020) and in late 15th-century printed books of hours for Paris and Rouen use (see L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, II, France 1420-1540, 1992, cat.193). Like the printed Horae, this manuscript was probably made for the open market; prayers are in the masculine.
2. Bound by Rivière for the Boston booksellers and publishers Charles E. Lauriat and Co.
CONTENT:
Gospel extracts ff.2-11: St John f.2, St Luke f.2v, St Matthew f.3v, St Mark f.4v, Passion according to St John, followed by prayers, f.5; Obsecro te ff.11-13; O intemerata ff.13v-15v; prayers to the Virgin, opening Ave cuius concepcio, ff.15v-17; Avete omnes fideles to be said when passing a cemetery, as instructed in the French rubruc at the end, f.17-17v; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.19-55v: matins f.19, lauds f.26, prime f.31v, terce f.33v, sext f.35v, none f.37, vespers f.39, compline f.43, seasonal variants f.50; Hours of the Cross ff.57-58; Hours of the Holy Spirit, omitting sext and lacking compline,ff.59-59v; Penitential Psalms ff.60-67; Litany ff.67-72; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.74-91; Memorials ff.92-112: the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit f.92, the Holy Face f.93, Stabat mater f.93v, Sts Michael f.95, Peter and Paul f.95v, James f.96, all Apostles f.96, Stephen f.96v, Lawrence f.96v, Christopher f.97, Sebastian f,97v, Denis f.98, Nicholas f.98v, Claud f.98v, Anthony f.99v, Anne f.99v, Mary Magdalen, f.100, Katherine f.100v, Margaret f.100v, Barbara f.101, Apollonia f.101v, prayers necessaires a dire to Christ on waking, at various points during the mass, against tempest, for the king, against temptation etc f.102; Seven prayers of St Gregory with indulgence Domine ihesu christe adoro te in cruce pendentem f.106v; Litany of the Virgin, preceded by French rubric recounting how Mary communicated it to a priest called Arnold, with the assurance that those who recite it on a Saturday will see the Virgin five times f.107v.
ILLUMINATION:
The richly coloured miniatures share many stylistic traits with those of the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs, named from a copy of the French translation made in Rouen and presented to Louis XII in the early years of the 16th century (Paris, BnF, ms fr.594). Despite his Rouen connections, the Master frequently worked with the Parisian Jean Pichore and so was probably also based in the capital in the first decades of the 16th century. He and Pichore share many stylistic traits making the boundaries of their work difficult to define, so that some have argued that only one artist, the documented Jean Pichore, was responsible for the entire oeuvre. It is possible, however, to discern two distinct personalities and the artist of the present lot follows the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs, rather than Pichore, in the more rectangular contours of his large-handed figures and in the contrast between his snub-nosed women and beakily nosed men. For the Master, see C. Zöhl, Jean Pichore, Buchmaler, graphiker und Verleger in Paris um 1500, 2004, esp. pp.49-54; F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, pp.415-418.
The full-page miniatures and their classicising frames with sculptures may have been inspired by the work of the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs in the so-called Petites heures de Anne de Bretagne, probably wrongly associated with the French Queen (Paris, BnF, ms n. acq. lat, 3027). The Petites heures also exemplifies the Master's liking for typological pairings of Old and New Testament scenes, in a way not conventional in French books of hours but evoked here in the rare depiction of the Fall of the Rebel Angels, f.1. Taken from Revelations, the subject was presumably chosen to stand for the Creation, since it appears beside the opening words of St John's Gospel 'In the beginning', themselves taken from the opening of Genesis. The decision not to illustrate all four Gospels may have freed the miniaturist from producing the expected author portrait of St John.
The appeal of the book lies not only in its miniatures but in its accomplished borders. They unify the book through their constant vocabulary, while demonstrating great inventiveness in the shaping of the divided grounds and in the animals and grotesques that enliven the full borders. Enriched by their contacts with printed books, the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs and his associate, Jean Pichore, were much in demand for their mastery of illumination and book design which set standards fruitfully emulated by their followers.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows:
f.1 The Fall of the Rebel Angels, watched by God the Father; f.18v The Annunciation; f.56v The Crucifixion, an angel with the column of the Flagellation in the framing; f.58v Pentecost; f.73v Job on the dungheap
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