Details
JEAN COLOMBE and his workshop, BOOK OF HOURS, use of Bourges. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM.
[Bourges, ca. 1480]
167 x 102mm. 87 leaves,including one original blank [f.82] (lacking an undetermined number of text leaves), plus 20 later blank leaves; later foliation: [6], 101 ff. Collation, including intercalated blanks: 16 24 3-46 58 64 78 83 94 106 112 12-174 18-204 214 (of 6, v and vi cancelled) 228; in gatherings 8-17 (ff.37-75), which contain all the added blanks and from which substantial amounts of text are lacking, the original conjugacy and order of the leaves has been substantialy altered. 31 lines, single column, ruled in brown ink, justification: 140 x 73mm, written in brown ink in a bâtarde hand, rubrics in blue, one-, two-, three- or four-line initials in liquid gold on grounds of red, blue or brown, with similar line-fillers, 31 THREE-QUARTER-PAGE MINIATURES, 35 HALF-PAGE MINIATURES (some flaking of pigment; several miniatures very slightly cropped at the top; some staining of text pages or offset of text onto blank leaves in ff. 38-75). 17th-century French gold-tooled binding, gilt edges; a remboîtage (corners rubbed, spine wormed head and tail, small split upper joint, lacking ties). .
PROVENANCE:
The calendar, in French, names a saint for every day of the year; in blue are St. Genevieve (Jan. 3), St. Ives (May 19), St. Eloi (June 25), St. Martin (July 4), St. Louis (August 25), St. Leu and St. Gilles (Sept. 1), St. Denis (Oct. 9), St. Marcel (Nov. 3), St. Martin (Nov. 11), and St. Eloi (Dec. 1). The use of the Office of the Dead is Bourges; the text of the Office of the Virgin is missing from the manuscript. 16th-century inscription on flyleaf, names obliterated; early inscriptions on f.4v (signed Renee de Bouchey) and f. 10v. Purchased in Lyons according to a 20th-century pencilled inscription on the flyleaf.
TEXT:
Calendar; Gospel sequences (ff.1-4v); Passion according to St. John (ff.5-10v); Penitential Psalms (ff.11-15); Litany (ff.15v-17v); Office of the Dead (ff.18-37v); miniatures with text fragments on backs, interleaved with later blanks (ff.38-75); Suffrages and prayers to the Virgin (ff.76-101v). Originally the manuscript also included the Hours of the Virgin, the Hours of the Cross, the Hours of the Holy Spirit, the Office of St. Barbara and the Office of St. Katherine.
ILLUMINATION:
The iconographic scheme shows that this was once a luxuriously illuminated book of hours, with full cycles of illustration for each of the offices it included. It was subsequently reduced to a book of pictures by the removal of the texts of all the offices except the Office of the Dead. From the offices of the Virgin, the Holy Cross, the Holy Spirit, St. Barbara, and St. Katherine, most of the miniatures remain; many of these have been remounted on stubs, often reversed recto for verso, and have been bound out of order. The blank vellum leaves that occur between the miniatures in the central section of the manuscript (ff. 38-75) were formerly glued down to the versos of these miniatures in order to conceal the text there; these fragments of text are the only passages surviving from the missing offices.
The style and iconography of the miniatures place this Book of Hours in the workshop of Jean Colombe. The miniatures of the Virgin and Christ enthroned with the company of saints (f.15v) and the Man of Sorrows (f.76) closely resemble those attributed to Colombe in the Très Riches Heures of Jean, duc de Berry, and in Pierpont Morgan Library, M.677. St. Luke painting the portrait of the Virgin (f.2) shares the layout and composition of the corresponding subject in M.677, and many other details of style, e.g., the use of grisaille interiors and the foreshortening of upturned faces, correspond to features of Colombe's work. The miniatures of the mocking of Christ (f.9v), the funeral procession (f.21v), the crucifixion (f.45v), the deposition (f.48v), and the entombment (f.50v), are very close to those in another fragmentary Colombe Book of Hours, one that also included the Office of St. Katherine (Antiquariat Heribert Tenschert, Katalog XXX [Leuchtendes Mittelalter, V], no. 24). The delicacy and precision of handling in many of the finest miniatures of the present manuscript allow their attribution to Jean Colombe himself: these include the Evangelists, (ff.2, 3 and 4), David and Goliath (f.28), the Virgin and Christ enthroned (f.39), the Nativity (f.59v), Christ in half-length (f.77), St. Catherine (f.90) and the Virgin and Child with angels (f.97v).
THE SUBJECTS OF THE LARGE MINIATURES ARE:
f.1 St. John on Patmos
f.2 St. Luke painting the portrait of the Virgin in a grisaille interior, a picture of the Annunciation in the background
f.3 St. Matthew writing at a desk in a grisaille interior, an angel standing before him
f.4 St. Mark trimming his pen, his lion beside him, a grisaille fresco of the Ascension in an apse behind him
f.5 The Agony in the Garden
f.9v The Mocking of Christ
f.11 David and Goliath
f.15v The Virgin and Christ enthroned, cherubim and seraphim behind, contemplated by the company of saints in the foreground
f.18 The three living and the three dead
f.21v A funeral procession, carrying a fleur-de-lys-draped coffin into a church
f.24v David praying in a landscape, God above
f.28 David praying before a tomb, God above
f.31v David, nude, praying before the mouth of the beast, God above
f.39v The Virgin and Christ enthroned
f.41v The Trinity seated on a rainbow, adored by a pope, cardinals and laymen below
f.43v The Ascension
f.45v The Crucifixion
f.48v The Deposition
f.50v The Entombment
f.52v Pentecost
f.55v The Annunciation, in a grisaille interior
f.57v The Visitation
f.59v The Nativity
f.61v The Annunciation to the Shepherds
f.63v The Adoration of the Magi
f.65v The Presentation in the Temple
f.67v The Flight into Egypt
f.69v The Tower of St. Barbara
f.71v The Baptism of Jesus
f.73v Five angels bearing the body of St. Katherine up a steep path to a chapel on the peak of Mt. Sinai
f.75v A young woman, accompanied by two male saints, standing over the body of a man lying on a path.
THE SUBJECTS OF THE SMALLER MINIATURES ARE:
f.76 The Man of Sorrows
f.77 Christ holding an orb and blessing, enthroned on a rainbow
f.77v Christ holding an orb and blessing, half-length against a leafy landscape
f.78v God the Father enthroned, wearing the tiara and holding an orb
f.79 A male saint, wearing a white habit and black scapular, with a devil on a leash
f.80 St. Peter enthroned, wearing the tiara and holding a key
f.80v Sts Philip and James, one holding a book, the other a cross
f.81 St. Thomas touching the side of the risen Christ
f.83 St. Christopher
f.84 St. Sebastian
f.85v St. George on horseback, slaying the dragon
f.86 St. Eutropius, in a grisaille interior, a man kneeling before him
f.87 St. Eligius, in a grisaille interior
f.87v St. Anthony, in a landscape, with a boar
f.88 St. Aubin, in a landscape, a man kneeling before him
f.88v St. Hubert, in a landscape, holding a hunting horn, a dog before him, an angel above handing down a red banderole
f.89 St. Katherine, in a landscape, with a sword and wheel
f.90 St. Katherine, in a landscape, with a sword and wheel, another pose
f.90v St.Katherine and St. Barbara, in a landscape, Katherine with sword and wheel, Barbara holding a tower
f.91v The Martyrdom of St. Barbara
f.92 St. Radegunde, in a landscape, wearing a black monastic habit with a blue fleur-de-lys cloak, holding a crozier and book
f.92v St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read
f.93 All Saints
f.94 St. John the Evangelist, blessing the chalice, with a group of men in a landscape and two dead men on the ground
f.95v St. Michael slaying the dragon
f.96 Pietà, with the three Marys and John, before the three crosses (Obsecro te)
f.97 The Virgin and Child with angels, seated on a terrace before a balustrade, a mountainous landscape in the background (Salve regina)
f.97v The Virgin and Child with angels, seated in a landscape (Ave regina celorum)
f.98 The procession of St. Gregory (Regina celi)
f.98v The Virgin and Child with angels, seated in a landscape (Obsecro te; in a different but contemporary hand)
f.99 The Christ child standing before Mary, who is seated with a book in a grisaille church interior (Fluat stilla de mantilla)
f.99v The Virgin and Child enthroned with angels (Ave domina sancta Maria)
f.100 The Virgin and Child in glory, adored by kneeling men and women, a landscape in the background (Inviolata integra et casta)
f.100v The Virgin and Child with angels, seated in a garden (Virgo mitis et benigna)
f.101 The Virgin in glory, surrounded by cherubim (Gaude virgo mater christi)
[Bourges, ca. 1480]
167 x 102mm. 87 leaves,including one original blank [f.82] (lacking an undetermined number of text leaves), plus 20 later blank leaves; later foliation: [6], 101 ff. Collation, including intercalated blanks: 16 24 3-46 58 64 78 83 94 106 112 12-174 18-204 214 (of 6, v and vi cancelled) 228; in gatherings 8-17 (ff.37-75), which contain all the added blanks and from which substantial amounts of text are lacking, the original conjugacy and order of the leaves has been substantialy altered. 31 lines, single column, ruled in brown ink, justification: 140 x 73mm, written in brown ink in a bâtarde hand, rubrics in blue, one-, two-, three- or four-line initials in liquid gold on grounds of red, blue or brown, with similar line-fillers, 31 THREE-QUARTER-PAGE MINIATURES, 35 HALF-PAGE MINIATURES (some flaking of pigment; several miniatures very slightly cropped at the top; some staining of text pages or offset of text onto blank leaves in ff. 38-75). 17th-century French gold-tooled binding, gilt edges; a remboîtage (corners rubbed, spine wormed head and tail, small split upper joint, lacking ties). .
PROVENANCE:
The calendar, in French, names a saint for every day of the year; in blue are St. Genevieve (Jan. 3), St. Ives (May 19), St. Eloi (June 25), St. Martin (July 4), St. Louis (August 25), St. Leu and St. Gilles (Sept. 1), St. Denis (Oct. 9), St. Marcel (Nov. 3), St. Martin (Nov. 11), and St. Eloi (Dec. 1). The use of the Office of the Dead is Bourges; the text of the Office of the Virgin is missing from the manuscript. 16th-century inscription on flyleaf, names obliterated; early inscriptions on f.4v (signed Renee de Bouchey) and f. 10v. Purchased in Lyons according to a 20th-century pencilled inscription on the flyleaf.
TEXT:
Calendar; Gospel sequences (ff.1-4v); Passion according to St. John (ff.5-10v); Penitential Psalms (ff.11-15); Litany (ff.15v-17v); Office of the Dead (ff.18-37v); miniatures with text fragments on backs, interleaved with later blanks (ff.38-75); Suffrages and prayers to the Virgin (ff.76-101v). Originally the manuscript also included the Hours of the Virgin, the Hours of the Cross, the Hours of the Holy Spirit, the Office of St. Barbara and the Office of St. Katherine.
ILLUMINATION:
The iconographic scheme shows that this was once a luxuriously illuminated book of hours, with full cycles of illustration for each of the offices it included. It was subsequently reduced to a book of pictures by the removal of the texts of all the offices except the Office of the Dead. From the offices of the Virgin, the Holy Cross, the Holy Spirit, St. Barbara, and St. Katherine, most of the miniatures remain; many of these have been remounted on stubs, often reversed recto for verso, and have been bound out of order. The blank vellum leaves that occur between the miniatures in the central section of the manuscript (ff. 38-75) were formerly glued down to the versos of these miniatures in order to conceal the text there; these fragments of text are the only passages surviving from the missing offices.
The style and iconography of the miniatures place this Book of Hours in the workshop of Jean Colombe. The miniatures of the Virgin and Christ enthroned with the company of saints (f.15v) and the Man of Sorrows (f.76) closely resemble those attributed to Colombe in the Très Riches Heures of Jean, duc de Berry, and in Pierpont Morgan Library, M.677. St. Luke painting the portrait of the Virgin (f.2) shares the layout and composition of the corresponding subject in M.677, and many other details of style, e.g., the use of grisaille interiors and the foreshortening of upturned faces, correspond to features of Colombe's work. The miniatures of the mocking of Christ (f.9v), the funeral procession (f.21v), the crucifixion (f.45v), the deposition (f.48v), and the entombment (f.50v), are very close to those in another fragmentary Colombe Book of Hours, one that also included the Office of St. Katherine (Antiquariat Heribert Tenschert, Katalog XXX [Leuchtendes Mittelalter, V], no. 24). The delicacy and precision of handling in many of the finest miniatures of the present manuscript allow their attribution to Jean Colombe himself: these include the Evangelists, (ff.2, 3 and 4), David and Goliath (f.28), the Virgin and Christ enthroned (f.39), the Nativity (f.59v), Christ in half-length (f.77), St. Catherine (f.90) and the Virgin and Child with angels (f.97v).
THE SUBJECTS OF THE LARGE MINIATURES ARE:
f.1 St. John on Patmos
f.2 St. Luke painting the portrait of the Virgin in a grisaille interior, a picture of the Annunciation in the background
f.3 St. Matthew writing at a desk in a grisaille interior, an angel standing before him
f.4 St. Mark trimming his pen, his lion beside him, a grisaille fresco of the Ascension in an apse behind him
f.5 The Agony in the Garden
f.9v The Mocking of Christ
f.11 David and Goliath
f.15v The Virgin and Christ enthroned, cherubim and seraphim behind, contemplated by the company of saints in the foreground
f.18 The three living and the three dead
f.21v A funeral procession, carrying a fleur-de-lys-draped coffin into a church
f.24v David praying in a landscape, God above
f.28 David praying before a tomb, God above
f.31v David, nude, praying before the mouth of the beast, God above
f.39v The Virgin and Christ enthroned
f.41v The Trinity seated on a rainbow, adored by a pope, cardinals and laymen below
f.43v The Ascension
f.45v The Crucifixion
f.48v The Deposition
f.50v The Entombment
f.52v Pentecost
f.55v The Annunciation, in a grisaille interior
f.57v The Visitation
f.59v The Nativity
f.61v The Annunciation to the Shepherds
f.63v The Adoration of the Magi
f.65v The Presentation in the Temple
f.67v The Flight into Egypt
f.69v The Tower of St. Barbara
f.71v The Baptism of Jesus
f.73v Five angels bearing the body of St. Katherine up a steep path to a chapel on the peak of Mt. Sinai
f.75v A young woman, accompanied by two male saints, standing over the body of a man lying on a path.
THE SUBJECTS OF THE SMALLER MINIATURES ARE:
f.76 The Man of Sorrows
f.77 Christ holding an orb and blessing, enthroned on a rainbow
f.77v Christ holding an orb and blessing, half-length against a leafy landscape
f.78v God the Father enthroned, wearing the tiara and holding an orb
f.79 A male saint, wearing a white habit and black scapular, with a devil on a leash
f.80 St. Peter enthroned, wearing the tiara and holding a key
f.80v Sts Philip and James, one holding a book, the other a cross
f.81 St. Thomas touching the side of the risen Christ
f.83 St. Christopher
f.84 St. Sebastian
f.85v St. George on horseback, slaying the dragon
f.86 St. Eutropius, in a grisaille interior, a man kneeling before him
f.87 St. Eligius, in a grisaille interior
f.87v St. Anthony, in a landscape, with a boar
f.88 St. Aubin, in a landscape, a man kneeling before him
f.88v St. Hubert, in a landscape, holding a hunting horn, a dog before him, an angel above handing down a red banderole
f.89 St. Katherine, in a landscape, with a sword and wheel
f.90 St. Katherine, in a landscape, with a sword and wheel, another pose
f.90v St.Katherine and St. Barbara, in a landscape, Katherine with sword and wheel, Barbara holding a tower
f.91v The Martyrdom of St. Barbara
f.92 St. Radegunde, in a landscape, wearing a black monastic habit with a blue fleur-de-lys cloak, holding a crozier and book
f.92v St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read
f.93 All Saints
f.94 St. John the Evangelist, blessing the chalice, with a group of men in a landscape and two dead men on the ground
f.95v St. Michael slaying the dragon
f.96 Pietà, with the three Marys and John, before the three crosses (Obsecro te)
f.97 The Virgin and Child with angels, seated on a terrace before a balustrade, a mountainous landscape in the background (Salve regina)
f.97v The Virgin and Child with angels, seated in a landscape (Ave regina celorum)
f.98 The procession of St. Gregory (Regina celi)
f.98v The Virgin and Child with angels, seated in a landscape (Obsecro te; in a different but contemporary hand)
f.99 The Christ child standing before Mary, who is seated with a book in a grisaille church interior (Fluat stilla de mantilla)
f.99v The Virgin and Child enthroned with angels (Ave domina sancta Maria)
f.100 The Virgin and Child in glory, adored by kneeling men and women, a landscape in the background (Inviolata integra et casta)
f.100v The Virgin and Child with angels, seated in a garden (Virgo mitis et benigna)
f.101 The Virgin in glory, surrounded by cherubim (Gaude virgo mater christi)