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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Bruges, c.1510]
128 x 82mm. 208 + i leaves, 16, 28(vii & viii singletons, viii with a miniature), 39(iii inserted singleton with miniature), 410 (i & viii singletons with miniatures), 58, 69(iv singleton with miniature), 78, 89(vi singleton with miniature), 98, 1010(i & vi singletons with miniatures), 1110(i & vi singletons with miniatures), 1210(i & ix singletons with miniatures), 139(v singleton with miniature), 144, 152(of 4, iii & iv cancelled blanks), 168, 176, 182, 199(i singleton with miniature), 208, 219(v singleton with miniature), 22-258, 266, 278+1, 17 lines written in a round gothic bookhand in black ink between two verticals and 18 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 71 x 47mm, rubrics in dark pink, one-, two- and three-line initials with twiggy staves on grounds of green, red or blue, EVERY PAGE WITH A FLOWER-SPRAY, BIRD OR INSECT in the outer or lower margin, TWENTY-FOUR FULL-PAGE CALENDAR BORDERS with architectural frames containing half-length figures or scenes illustrating the major feasts, and arch-topped miniatures with occupations of the month and zodiac signs, FIFTEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES FRAMED BY NARRATIVE SCENES and facing full-page borders, either of similar type or strewn with flowers, fruit, and containing insects and birds, TWELVE LARGE MINIATURES surrounded by borders of the same types, one further full-page border with a unified scene (occasional slight smudging, rubbing or offsetting). 19th-century red roan gilt (slight rubbing to extremities).
PROVENANCE:
1. There is no precise indication for original ownership: the Calendar suggests Bruges although the rounded script was particularly popular for books intended for export to Italy and the Iberian peninsula, or for their nationals resident in Bruges. One tantalising and unusual inclusion is the pair of initials in the commendation on rising, Omnipotens sempiterne deus conditor mundi.... (f.202) where J&G immediately precedes famulos tuos.
2. Sir Robert Shafto Adair: his bookplate inside upper cover
3. Fernand J. Nyssen: his bookplate on front endleaf
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-13; Salve sancta facies.... ff.15-16; Hours of the Cross ff.18-23v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.25-30; Mass of the Virgin ff.32-37; Gospel Extracts ff.37v-44; Office of the Virgin ff.46-119: matins f.46, lauds f.65, prime f.77, terce f.82, sext f.87, none f.92, vespers f.97, compline f.105, Propers for Advent f.111; Prayers of St Gregory ff.121-122; Sorrows of the Virgin ff.122-128; Suffrages to the Saints ff.129-136v: Michael f.129, Peter and Paul f.130, James f.131, Sebastian f.132, Anthony f.133, Mary Magdalene f.134, Catherine f.135, Barbara f.136; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.138-157v; Office of the Dead ff.159-200v; Prayers to the Virgin and the Trinity ff.201-208
ILLUMINATION:
This is an attractive and extremely richly illustrated Book of Hours. The miniatures are close in style and composition to those in manuscripts associated with the anonymous illuminator known as the Master of Janneke Bollengier. This illuminator, who was active in Bruges in the decades around 1500, was named by Bodo Brinkmann from the Book of Hours (Mons, Collgiale Ste Waudru, Trsor, inv. 65) that was probably made in Bruges for Janneke's mother who died in 1508. An Hours in Cracow (Bib. Czartoryskich, Ms 3093), one sold in London (Sotheby's, 17 June 1997, lot 82) and the Breviary of Marguerite de Houchin-Longastre, who died in 1489, were also identified by Brinkmann as the work of the same Master. An Hours from the Beck Collection (Sotheby's, 16 June 1997, lot 32) was initially also ascribed to his hand: B. Brinkmann, Die Flamische Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs, der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit, 2 vols, Turnhout, 1997, I, pp.308-315.
The miniatures in the present manuscript are painted in the same bright colours and are peopled with the lively, if somewhat squat, figures of the Janneke Bollengier group, being perhaps closest to those in the Beck Hours. The finest miniatures, such as the Annunciation, are richly detailed in both figures and elaborate architectural settings. Landscapes are busy with trees and buildings, and often include additional events or figures. All the manuscripts of the group draw on a wide range of patterns current in Ghent-Bruges manuscript illumination around 1510. In this book, for instance, St Catherine ultimately derives from an original design by Hugo van der Goes that was much used by illuminators. Similarly the Calendar layout and the labours of the months resemble those in the Mayer van den Bergh Breviary (Antwerp, Mus. Mayer van der Bergh, Ms 946); they succeed in providing detailed evocations of contemporary life in spite of their small size. Vigorous gestures and neatly defined shapes give clarity and appeal to the often densely populated scenes, especially those in the pictorial borders. It is the borders of the present manuscript that distinguish it and make it the most ambitious of the group.
The birds, insects, snails and other creatures mingling with the flowers in the full scatter borders are typical of the Bollengier group, but none of the others has architectural and pictorial borders of the type first popularised by the Master of Mary of Burgundy and the Master of the Older Prayerbook of Maximilian. The tiny figures in the narrative borders of the present manuscript clearly convey scenes which either extend the subject of the miniature or parallel it with an Old Testament precedent. Some of these scenes are extremely inventive in either their placing or subject-matter, for example, the Souls beneath the Nativity who receive news from an angel of the Incarnation that will bring their deliverance.
Even the text-pages are rendered exceptionally attractive by the individual isolated flower or fruit spray, bird, insect or jewel placed in the side or lower margin. These adorn virtually every leaf and are placed and drawn with great variety; in a departure from common practice these motifs have not been traced through from recto to verso. These borders are unique in the Bollengier group and add yet another type to the range of page design employed in the manuscript.
Subjects of the illumination on the Calendar pages:
Each month is spread across a page-opening, both pages having architectural frames with varying numbers of apertures to contain small scenes or standing figures of saints to illustrate the major feasts -- the red-letter days -- of the month; arched openings in the frames at the lower margin reveal relevant occupations and zodiac signs. These are as follows: Feasting f.1v; A man walking in the snow, and Aquarius f.2 (January); Pruning and howing f.2v; Gathering firewood, and Pisces f.3 (February); Gardening f.3v; Carrying firewood, and Aries f.4 (March); Lambing f.4v; Riding and Milking, and Taurus f.5 (April); Lovers boating f.5v; Courting and riding, and Gemini f.6 (May); Sheep-shearing f.6v; Hay-making, and Cancer f.7 (June); Hay-making f.7v; Straw-making, and Leo f.8 (July); Harvesting f.8v; Threshing, and Gemini f.9 (August); Wine-making f.9v; Grape-pressing, and Libra f.10 (September); Sowing f.10v; Man carrying a sack, and Scorpio f.11 (October); Fowl feeding f.11v; Hog feeding, and Sagittarius f.12; Cattle slaying f.12v (November); Pig butchering, and Capricorn f.13 (December)
The full-page miniatures are themselves surrounded by borders; these may have an architectural frame containing other scenes or figures, or they present a unified setting with a scene augmenting the event in the main miniature. In both cases there are matching or complementary borders on the facing recto where the text of the devotion begins. The subjects of the miniatures and scenes in the borders are as follows:
ff.13v & 14 Half-length figure of Christ blessing, with scenes from the legend of St Veronica
ff.17v & 18 Crucifixion, with scenes from the Passion
ff.24v & 25 Pentecost, with scenes of Moses receiving the Old Law, facing a strewn flower border
ff.31v & 32 Tree of Jesse, facing a border with twisted branches
ff.45v & 46 Annunciation, with scenes of the Fall of Man and facing scenes from the Infancy of the Virgin
ff.64v & 65 Visitation, with scenes of the Marriage of the Virgin, facing a strewn flower border
ff.76v & 77 Nativity, with angels and the Blessed in Heaven, facing a strewn flower border
ff.81v & 82 Annunciation to the Shepherds, with dancing shepherds below, facing a strewn flower border
ff.86v & 87 Adoration of the Magi, with scenes of the Magi's journey, facing a strewn flower border
ff.91v & 92 Presentation in the Temple, with Augustus and the Tiburtine Sybil, facing a strewn flower border
ff.96v & 97 Flight into Egypt, with the Massacre of the Innocents, facing a strewn flower border
ff.104v & 105 Christ teaching the Doctors, with the Marriage at Cana, facing a strewn acanthus border
ff.110v & 111 Death of the Virgin, with the Assumption, facing a strewn flower and acanthus border
ff.137v & 138 David in Prayer, with scenes from the life of David
ff.158v & 159 Raising of Lazarus, with scenes of death, funeral and burial
Each of the Gospel Extracts and Suffrages opens with a large arch-topped miniature above four lines of text and surrounded by a border either containing strewn flowers or, more usually, scenes from the legend of the saint. These miniatures are found on ff.37v, 39, 41, 43, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136.
The border on f.121 has the Instruments of the Passion in an architectural setting. It may originally have faced a full-page miniature on an inserted leaf.
[Bruges, c.1510]
128 x 82mm. 208 + i leaves, 1
PROVENANCE:
1. There is no precise indication for original ownership: the Calendar suggests Bruges although the rounded script was particularly popular for books intended for export to Italy and the Iberian peninsula, or for their nationals resident in Bruges. One tantalising and unusual inclusion is the pair of initials in the commendation on rising, Omnipotens sempiterne deus conditor mundi.... (f.202) where J&G immediately precedes famulos tuos.
2. Sir Robert Shafto Adair: his bookplate inside upper cover
3. Fernand J. Nyssen: his bookplate on front endleaf
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-13; Salve sancta facies.... ff.15-16; Hours of the Cross ff.18-23v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.25-30; Mass of the Virgin ff.32-37; Gospel Extracts ff.37v-44; Office of the Virgin ff.46-119: matins f.46, lauds f.65, prime f.77, terce f.82, sext f.87, none f.92, vespers f.97, compline f.105, Propers for Advent f.111; Prayers of St Gregory ff.121-122; Sorrows of the Virgin ff.122-128; Suffrages to the Saints ff.129-136v: Michael f.129, Peter and Paul f.130, James f.131, Sebastian f.132, Anthony f.133, Mary Magdalene f.134, Catherine f.135, Barbara f.136; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.138-157v; Office of the Dead ff.159-200v; Prayers to the Virgin and the Trinity ff.201-208
ILLUMINATION:
This is an attractive and extremely richly illustrated Book of Hours. The miniatures are close in style and composition to those in manuscripts associated with the anonymous illuminator known as the Master of Janneke Bollengier. This illuminator, who was active in Bruges in the decades around 1500, was named by Bodo Brinkmann from the Book of Hours (Mons, Collgiale Ste Waudru, Trsor, inv. 65) that was probably made in Bruges for Janneke's mother who died in 1508. An Hours in Cracow (Bib. Czartoryskich, Ms 3093), one sold in London (Sotheby's, 17 June 1997, lot 82) and the Breviary of Marguerite de Houchin-Longastre, who died in 1489, were also identified by Brinkmann as the work of the same Master. An Hours from the Beck Collection (Sotheby's, 16 June 1997, lot 32) was initially also ascribed to his hand: B. Brinkmann, Die Flamische Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs, der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit, 2 vols, Turnhout, 1997, I, pp.308-315.
The miniatures in the present manuscript are painted in the same bright colours and are peopled with the lively, if somewhat squat, figures of the Janneke Bollengier group, being perhaps closest to those in the Beck Hours. The finest miniatures, such as the Annunciation, are richly detailed in both figures and elaborate architectural settings. Landscapes are busy with trees and buildings, and often include additional events or figures. All the manuscripts of the group draw on a wide range of patterns current in Ghent-Bruges manuscript illumination around 1510. In this book, for instance, St Catherine ultimately derives from an original design by Hugo van der Goes that was much used by illuminators. Similarly the Calendar layout and the labours of the months resemble those in the Mayer van den Bergh Breviary (Antwerp, Mus. Mayer van der Bergh, Ms 946); they succeed in providing detailed evocations of contemporary life in spite of their small size. Vigorous gestures and neatly defined shapes give clarity and appeal to the often densely populated scenes, especially those in the pictorial borders. It is the borders of the present manuscript that distinguish it and make it the most ambitious of the group.
The birds, insects, snails and other creatures mingling with the flowers in the full scatter borders are typical of the Bollengier group, but none of the others has architectural and pictorial borders of the type first popularised by the Master of Mary of Burgundy and the Master of the Older Prayerbook of Maximilian. The tiny figures in the narrative borders of the present manuscript clearly convey scenes which either extend the subject of the miniature or parallel it with an Old Testament precedent. Some of these scenes are extremely inventive in either their placing or subject-matter, for example, the Souls beneath the Nativity who receive news from an angel of the Incarnation that will bring their deliverance.
Even the text-pages are rendered exceptionally attractive by the individual isolated flower or fruit spray, bird, insect or jewel placed in the side or lower margin. These adorn virtually every leaf and are placed and drawn with great variety; in a departure from common practice these motifs have not been traced through from recto to verso. These borders are unique in the Bollengier group and add yet another type to the range of page design employed in the manuscript.
Subjects of the illumination on the Calendar pages:
Each month is spread across a page-opening, both pages having architectural frames with varying numbers of apertures to contain small scenes or standing figures of saints to illustrate the major feasts -- the red-letter days -- of the month; arched openings in the frames at the lower margin reveal relevant occupations and zodiac signs. These are as follows: Feasting f.1v; A man walking in the snow, and Aquarius f.2 (January); Pruning and howing f.2v; Gathering firewood, and Pisces f.3 (February); Gardening f.3v; Carrying firewood, and Aries f.4 (March); Lambing f.4v; Riding and Milking, and Taurus f.5 (April); Lovers boating f.5v; Courting and riding, and Gemini f.6 (May); Sheep-shearing f.6v; Hay-making, and Cancer f.7 (June); Hay-making f.7v; Straw-making, and Leo f.8 (July); Harvesting f.8v; Threshing, and Gemini f.9 (August); Wine-making f.9v; Grape-pressing, and Libra f.10 (September); Sowing f.10v; Man carrying a sack, and Scorpio f.11 (October); Fowl feeding f.11v; Hog feeding, and Sagittarius f.12; Cattle slaying f.12v (November); Pig butchering, and Capricorn f.13 (December)
The full-page miniatures are themselves surrounded by borders; these may have an architectural frame containing other scenes or figures, or they present a unified setting with a scene augmenting the event in the main miniature. In both cases there are matching or complementary borders on the facing recto where the text of the devotion begins. The subjects of the miniatures and scenes in the borders are as follows:
ff.13v & 14 Half-length figure of Christ blessing, with scenes from the legend of St Veronica
ff.17v & 18 Crucifixion, with scenes from the Passion
ff.24v & 25 Pentecost, with scenes of Moses receiving the Old Law, facing a strewn flower border
ff.31v & 32 Tree of Jesse, facing a border with twisted branches
ff.45v & 46 Annunciation, with scenes of the Fall of Man and facing scenes from the Infancy of the Virgin
ff.64v & 65 Visitation, with scenes of the Marriage of the Virgin, facing a strewn flower border
ff.76v & 77 Nativity, with angels and the Blessed in Heaven, facing a strewn flower border
ff.81v & 82 Annunciation to the Shepherds, with dancing shepherds below, facing a strewn flower border
ff.86v & 87 Adoration of the Magi, with scenes of the Magi's journey, facing a strewn flower border
ff.91v & 92 Presentation in the Temple, with Augustus and the Tiburtine Sybil, facing a strewn flower border
ff.96v & 97 Flight into Egypt, with the Massacre of the Innocents, facing a strewn flower border
ff.104v & 105 Christ teaching the Doctors, with the Marriage at Cana, facing a strewn acanthus border
ff.110v & 111 Death of the Virgin, with the Assumption, facing a strewn flower and acanthus border
ff.137v & 138 David in Prayer, with scenes from the life of David
ff.158v & 159 Raising of Lazarus, with scenes of death, funeral and burial
Each of the Gospel Extracts and Suffrages opens with a large arch-topped miniature above four lines of text and surrounded by a border either containing strewn flowers or, more usually, scenes from the legend of the saint. These miniatures are found on ff.37v, 39, 41, 43, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136.
The border on f.121 has the Instruments of the Passion in an architectural setting. It may originally have faced a full-page miniature on an inserted leaf.