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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Paris, 1410-15]
180 x 133mm. 196 + iv leaves: 112, 2-48, 5-64, 7-148, 156, 16-248, 252, 271, COMPLETE, informal cursive catchwords at the bottom of most final versos, 14 lines written in brown-black ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 15 horizontals ruled in dark pink, justification: 82 x 60mm, rubrics in red, one- and two-line initials of burnished gold with grounds alternately of blue or pink and infills of the other colour all with white penwork decoration, line-endings of the same colours, all two-line initials accompanied by panel borders with sprays of small gold trefoils and flowers on hairline tendrils, major texts open with three- and four-line initials of pink and blue with white penwork on grounds of burnished gold the infills with curling ivy-leaf rinceaux of red and blue, SEVENTEEN LARGE MINIATURES: five square with miniature and text surrounded by three-sided bar border and with full-page borders of hairline tendrils with gold trefoils, foliate and flower terminals, twelve arch-topped with miniature and text surrounded by a patterned three-sided bar border with varying acanthus-leaf, foliate, floral or geometric motifs, and with full-page borders of hairline tendrils with gold trefoil, foliate and flower borders incorporating acanthus-leaf sprays and the occasional grotesque (slight smudging affecting miniatures on ff.41,43 and 45, some abrasion and oxidising of silver on miniature on 29). Old green velvet (worn).
A FINE ADDITION TO THE OEUVRE OF THE BOUCICAUT MASTER AND HIS WORKSHOP
PROVENANCE:
1. The Calendar, in French, is typically Parisian but the additional inclusion of St Ivo in gold, 19th May, and his invocation in the Litany could have had particular appeal for a lawyer.
2. A. Brlemann: his bookplate inside lower cover
3. Fernand J. Nyssen: his bookplate on front endleaf
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12; Gospel Extracts ff.13-17; abbreviated Passion according to St John, followed by the prayer Deus qui manus tuas....ff.18-20; Obsecro te.... ff.20-23v; O Intemerata.... ff.23v-27v; Passion according to John ff.29-39v; Suffrages to St Michael the Archangel, ff.41-41v, to St John the Baptist, ff.42-42v, to St Peter, ff.43-43v, to St Catherine, ff.45-45v; Office of the Virgin ff.46-113v: matins f.45, lauds f.56, prime f.59v, terce f.72, sext f.76v, none f.80v, vespers f.85, compline f.93v, Propers f.99; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.115-135v; Hours of the Holy Cross ff.136-142v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.143-149; Office of the Dead ff.149v-196v; ff.197-201v O dieu createur du ciel et de la terre.... and O domine jesu christe adoro te in cruce pendentem.... added in a later lettre btarde in brown ink
ILLUMINATION:
This Book of Hours is clearly in the style of the Boucicaut Master, the leading illuminator in Paris during the first two decades of the fifteenth century. While working for the greatest patrons, like Charles VI, and John, Duke of Berry, the Master and his workshop produced many Books of Hours for the open market, the majority without illuminated Suffrages (see M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: the Boucicaut Master, London, 1968). This previously unknown manuscript would seem to have been written, and partly illuminated, before it was personalised for an unknown owner by the addition of the full account of the Passion from St John's Gospel, introduced by the miniature of the Betrayal and Arrest of Christ, and of the suffrages to Sts Michael, John the Baptist, Peter and Catherine. These texts are contained on discrete gatherings with a narrower ruling and without the informal catchwords found elsewhere. The five miniatures introducing these texts are square rather than arch-topped and their frames and borders differ from those of the miniatures elsewhere in the book. The unusual position of the Suffrages before the Office of the Virgin is something also found in the Boucicaut Hours which could well have been in production at the same time.
While acknowledging the difficulties posed by the frequent repetition of compositions and motifs, Gabriele Bartz has divided the works traditionally attributed to the Boucicaut Master between two hands: the Boucicaut Master himself, named from the Book of Hours made for Marchal Boucicaut (Paris, Mus. Jacquemart-Andr, Ms 2) and the Mazarine Master, named for an Hours in Paris (Bib. Mazarine, Ms 469): G. Bartz, 'Boucicaut Master', Dictionary of Art, vol.20. The present manuscript relates most closely to the Boucicaut Master himself, with ten of the twelve original miniatures (ff.45, 56, 67v, 72, 76v, 80v, 85, 93v, 136, and 143) being comparable in execution and, with the exception of the Coronation of the Virgin, composition to those in a recently discovered Boucicaut Master Book of Hours (see Bartz, Der Boucicaut-Meister, Ein unbekanntes Stundenbuch, Katalog XLII, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermuhle/Rothalmunster, 1999). The two manuscripts share a fondness for diaper backgrounds, as seen also in the Hours of Jeanne Bessonelle (Paris, B.N., Ms. lat. 1161) for instance. Other correspondences can be made with the Boucicaut Hours itself whose elaborate compositions reappear in simplified form in the figure groups of the Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi and Flight into Egypt of the present manuscript.
Two miniatures were painted by other illuminators, although following Boucicaut designs. The Funeral service (f.149v) painted with great finesse is executed in a variant of the Boucicaut style, while the King David (f.115) was worked in a broader more vividly colourful style. Manuscripts from the Boucicaut workshop frequently contain miniatures in other styles.
Most of the miniatures of the original section show a concern with conveying the bulk and mass of figures through complex drapery folds, while not sacrificing a distinctively elegant silhouette. Despite the flattening effect of the diaper grounds, the settings are drawn to convey space and depth, frequently using a more realistic viewpoint than is seen in related compositions. To the skilled draughtsmanship and fine figure drawing of the original portion of the book an extra refinement is apparent in the miniatures for the texts that seem likely to have been added for a specific buyer. The opening illustration, the Arrest of Christ, shows an elegance of contour, particularly in the figure of Christ, and an ability to depict exquisite, emotive details, like the bloody edge of Malchus's detached ear, which are worthy of comparison with the Master's finest miniatures. The composition is a reworking of that in the earlier Hours of Jeanne Bessonelle (Meiss ill.199) but a reworking which heightens the significance of the events. Judas now actually kisses Christ, while the rebuked St Peter turns away in shame and Malchus is turned so that Christ can heal him more easily. The miniatures of the saints are simpler compositions but are carried out with the same delicacy of handling and derive from the same patterns as their equivalents in the Boucicaut Hours. St Michael, f.41, is posed more sturdily to thrust down into the devil, his solidity offset by a more broken, fluttering outline from his newly fashionable classicising armour; his devil resembles the dragon of the Boucicaut Hours' St George (Meiss ills 2, 10); St Catherine is very like her counterpart in the Boucicaut Hours miniature of female saints (Meiss ill.24); Sts John the Baptist and Peter correspond in choice and positioning of attributes (Meiss ills 3, 5).
This manuscript not only contains work attributable to the Boucicaut Master himself but constitutes a fascinating example of how he and his workshop catered for their clientele by a flexible range of standard texts which could be personalised for the wealthier or more demanding purchaser. It is a most attractive example of the books which made him such an influential figure in Parisian illumination, an influence which spread, with his designs, throughout France and into the Netherlands.
The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows:
f.29 Betrayal
f.41 St Michael the Archangel
f.42 St John the Baptist
f.43 St Peter
f.44 St Catherine
f.45 Annunciation
f.56 Visitation
f.67v Nativity with the Adoration of the Christ Child
f.72 Annunciation to the Shepherds
f.76v Adoration of the Magi
f.80v Presentation in the Temple
f.85 Flight into Egypt
f.93v Coronation of the Virgin
f.115 David in penitence
f.136 Crucifixion with the Virgin and John the Baptist
f.143 Pentecost
f.149v Funeral Service
[Paris, 1410-15]
180 x 133mm. 196 + iv leaves: 1
A FINE ADDITION TO THE OEUVRE OF THE BOUCICAUT MASTER AND HIS WORKSHOP
PROVENANCE:
1. The Calendar, in French, is typically Parisian but the additional inclusion of St Ivo in gold, 19th May, and his invocation in the Litany could have had particular appeal for a lawyer.
2. A. Brlemann: his bookplate inside lower cover
3. Fernand J. Nyssen: his bookplate on front endleaf
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12; Gospel Extracts ff.13-17; abbreviated Passion according to St John, followed by the prayer Deus qui manus tuas....ff.18-20; Obsecro te.... ff.20-23v; O Intemerata.... ff.23v-27v; Passion according to John ff.29-39v; Suffrages to St Michael the Archangel, ff.41-41v, to St John the Baptist, ff.42-42v, to St Peter, ff.43-43v, to St Catherine, ff.45-45v; Office of the Virgin ff.46-113v: matins f.45, lauds f.56, prime f.59v, terce f.72, sext f.76v, none f.80v, vespers f.85, compline f.93v, Propers f.99; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.115-135v; Hours of the Holy Cross ff.136-142v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.143-149; Office of the Dead ff.149v-196v; ff.197-201v O dieu createur du ciel et de la terre.... and O domine jesu christe adoro te in cruce pendentem.... added in a later lettre btarde in brown ink
ILLUMINATION:
This Book of Hours is clearly in the style of the Boucicaut Master, the leading illuminator in Paris during the first two decades of the fifteenth century. While working for the greatest patrons, like Charles VI, and John, Duke of Berry, the Master and his workshop produced many Books of Hours for the open market, the majority without illuminated Suffrages (see M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: the Boucicaut Master, London, 1968). This previously unknown manuscript would seem to have been written, and partly illuminated, before it was personalised for an unknown owner by the addition of the full account of the Passion from St John's Gospel, introduced by the miniature of the Betrayal and Arrest of Christ, and of the suffrages to Sts Michael, John the Baptist, Peter and Catherine. These texts are contained on discrete gatherings with a narrower ruling and without the informal catchwords found elsewhere. The five miniatures introducing these texts are square rather than arch-topped and their frames and borders differ from those of the miniatures elsewhere in the book. The unusual position of the Suffrages before the Office of the Virgin is something also found in the Boucicaut Hours which could well have been in production at the same time.
While acknowledging the difficulties posed by the frequent repetition of compositions and motifs, Gabriele Bartz has divided the works traditionally attributed to the Boucicaut Master between two hands: the Boucicaut Master himself, named from the Book of Hours made for Marchal Boucicaut (Paris, Mus. Jacquemart-Andr, Ms 2) and the Mazarine Master, named for an Hours in Paris (Bib. Mazarine, Ms 469): G. Bartz, 'Boucicaut Master', Dictionary of Art, vol.20. The present manuscript relates most closely to the Boucicaut Master himself, with ten of the twelve original miniatures (ff.45, 56, 67v, 72, 76v, 80v, 85, 93v, 136, and 143) being comparable in execution and, with the exception of the Coronation of the Virgin, composition to those in a recently discovered Boucicaut Master Book of Hours (see Bartz, Der Boucicaut-Meister, Ein unbekanntes Stundenbuch, Katalog XLII, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermuhle/Rothalmunster, 1999). The two manuscripts share a fondness for diaper backgrounds, as seen also in the Hours of Jeanne Bessonelle (Paris, B.N., Ms. lat. 1161) for instance. Other correspondences can be made with the Boucicaut Hours itself whose elaborate compositions reappear in simplified form in the figure groups of the Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi and Flight into Egypt of the present manuscript.
Two miniatures were painted by other illuminators, although following Boucicaut designs. The Funeral service (f.149v) painted with great finesse is executed in a variant of the Boucicaut style, while the King David (f.115) was worked in a broader more vividly colourful style. Manuscripts from the Boucicaut workshop frequently contain miniatures in other styles.
Most of the miniatures of the original section show a concern with conveying the bulk and mass of figures through complex drapery folds, while not sacrificing a distinctively elegant silhouette. Despite the flattening effect of the diaper grounds, the settings are drawn to convey space and depth, frequently using a more realistic viewpoint than is seen in related compositions. To the skilled draughtsmanship and fine figure drawing of the original portion of the book an extra refinement is apparent in the miniatures for the texts that seem likely to have been added for a specific buyer. The opening illustration, the Arrest of Christ, shows an elegance of contour, particularly in the figure of Christ, and an ability to depict exquisite, emotive details, like the bloody edge of Malchus's detached ear, which are worthy of comparison with the Master's finest miniatures. The composition is a reworking of that in the earlier Hours of Jeanne Bessonelle (Meiss ill.199) but a reworking which heightens the significance of the events. Judas now actually kisses Christ, while the rebuked St Peter turns away in shame and Malchus is turned so that Christ can heal him more easily. The miniatures of the saints are simpler compositions but are carried out with the same delicacy of handling and derive from the same patterns as their equivalents in the Boucicaut Hours. St Michael, f.41, is posed more sturdily to thrust down into the devil, his solidity offset by a more broken, fluttering outline from his newly fashionable classicising armour; his devil resembles the dragon of the Boucicaut Hours' St George (Meiss ills 2, 10); St Catherine is very like her counterpart in the Boucicaut Hours miniature of female saints (Meiss ill.24); Sts John the Baptist and Peter correspond in choice and positioning of attributes (Meiss ills 3, 5).
This manuscript not only contains work attributable to the Boucicaut Master himself but constitutes a fascinating example of how he and his workshop catered for their clientele by a flexible range of standard texts which could be personalised for the wealthier or more demanding purchaser. It is a most attractive example of the books which made him such an influential figure in Parisian illumination, an influence which spread, with his designs, throughout France and into the Netherlands.
The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows:
f.29 Betrayal
f.41 St Michael the Archangel
f.42 St John the Baptist
f.43 St Peter
f.44 St Catherine
f.45 Annunciation
f.56 Visitation
f.67v Nativity with the Adoration of the Christ Child
f.72 Annunciation to the Shepherds
f.76v Adoration of the Magi
f.80v Presentation in the Temple
f.85 Flight into Egypt
f.93v Coronation of the Virgin
f.115 David in penitence
f.136 Crucifixion with the Virgin and John the Baptist
f.143 Pentecost
f.149v Funeral Service