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Details
THE BERBISEY HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Burgundy, c.1485-90]
218 x 154mm. iii + 114 leaves: 1-26, 47(of 8, lacking i), 54(of 8, lacking iii-vi), 65(of 6, lacking iii), 77(of 8, lacking i), 87(of 8, lacking i), 9-178, five of the lacking leaves likely with miniatures, 16 lines written in dark brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 17 horizontals ruled in pink, top and bottom horizontals across margins, justification: 107 x 70mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched yellow, opening initial of blue patterned white on a ground of burnished gold with ivy-leaves of pink and blue, one- and two-line initials of liquid gold on grounds alternately of blue and dark red with gold filigree, additional ruling in pink for PANEL BORDERS, with sprays of acanthus and naturalistic flowers, and incorporating HOLY AND RELIGIOUS PERSONS, ANIMALS AND GROTESQUES, those of the Calendar including TWENTY-FOUR SMALL MINIATURES OF THE OCCUPATIONS AND ZODIAC SIGNS in arched frames, TWENTY-TWO MARGINAL MINIATURES taking the place of border panels on other leaves, THREE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES containing small areas of text and TWELVE COMBINED MINIATURES AND BORDERS with architectural framing providing niches to house figures or scenes related to the central subject (a few miniatures with small pigment losses, flaking of gold to some of major feasts in the Calendar). 18th-century red morocco gilt with shaped panels on sides (rebacked and some restoration).
AN UNKNOWN MANUSCRIPT MADE FOR THE GREAT DIJON FAMILY BY THE MASTER OF THE BURGUNDIAN PRELATES
PROVENANCE:
1. The style of illumination and feasts in gold in the Calendar (Didier 23 May, Mammas 17 August, Philibert 20 August) show that the manuscript was made in the diocese of Langres, which at this date included Dijon. The prayer Obsecro te is in the masculine form. An angel in the border of folio 69v holds a shield with the coat of arms azure, a sheep argent. These were the arms borne by the Dijon family Berbisey: J. d'Arbaumont, 'Mémoires sur les origines de la famille Berbisey', Mémoires de la Commission des Antiquités de la Côte d'Or, vi, 1861/64,pp.33-46. Of the 130 or so foliate panel borders that include a figure of a religious, beast or grotesque, in almost a third the creature included is a sheep. This canting reference to the brebis of the family name also featured in the decoration of the oratory and the hôtel, in rue Berbisey, put up by Thomas Berbisey, secretary to Louis XI and, after the king's death, appointed secretaire des finances en Bourgogne in 1481. The manuscript is likely to have been made for either Thomas or for his father Etienne, who was mayor of Dijon in 1477 and who died in 1501. Thomas was clearly a discerning patron for his Book of Hours in Paris (BnF lat.1374) includes an added miniature of St Bénigne by Jean Poyet.
2. Marc René Anne Marie, comte de Montalembert, soldier and French diplomat (1777-1831): his bookstamp on ff.1 and 114v, and his armorial charge tooled in gilt in the compartments of the spine. A member of one of France's oldest and most distinguished families, Marc René joined the English army in 1799 and served with distinction in Egypt, Spain and Portugal. In 1814 the Prince Regent appointed him to announce to Louis XVIII his accession to the throne. He returned to France with the prince and subsequently took up diplomatic posts in London, Stuttgart and Copenhagen. He was raised to the nobility in 1819. His political views resulted in the loss of his diplomatic position under Richelieu but he was appointed ambassador to Sweden 1826-1829.
3.Charles Forbes, comte de Montalembert (1810-1870) and his wife Marie Anne Henriette, comtesse de Mérode (m.1836): their circular armorial bookplate inside upper cover and illuminated on f.iii verso. The eldest son of Marc René, Charles Forbes René was a significant figure in French political life, an orator and writer on liberal Catholicism, a religious historian and a member of the Académie Française.
4. Guillaume-Charles-Hubert, comte de Hemricourt de Grunne (b.1882) and his wife, Henriette-Charlotte-Eugenie-Marie-Ghislaine, comtesse de Mérode (b.1880): their armorial bookplate inside the upper cover; they married in 1920. Guillaume-Charles-Hubert de Hemricourt de Grunne was the son of François comte de Hemricourt de Grunne and Madeleine de Montalembert, the daughter of Charles Forbes, Comte de Montalembert. Loose within the volume is a letter about the manuscript written to him in 1942, by André Butineau.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff. 13-18v; Obsecro te, lacking ending ff.18v-21v; Mass of the Virgin, lacking opening ff.22-25v; Hours of the Sacrament, lacking opening ff.26-28; Hours of the Cross, lacking opening ff.29-31v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.32-35; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.36-81v: matins, lacking opening f.36, lauds f.46v, prime f.59, terce f.63, sext f.66v, none f.69v, vespers f.73, compline f.78v; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.83-95v; Litany and Collects ff.96-100; Office of the Dead, use of Rome ff.101-114v.
ILLUMINATION
This is a splendid example of the original and idiosyncratic work produced by the Master of the Burgundian Prelates and his workshop. The Master was identified and named by Nicole Reynaud from the illumination of a group of liturgical books made for eminent and powerful ecclesiastics of Langres, Dijon and Autun: 'Un peintre français de la fin du XVe siècle: le Maître des prelats bourguignons', Etudes d'art français offertes à Charles Sterling (1975), pp.151-163. He also provided eminent citizens -- such as the Berbisey -- with Books of Hours, and his workshop appears entirely to have dominated the market for liturgical and devotional manuscripts in Burgundy. It is not certain where he worked but those owners of Hours who can be localised mostly, like the Berbisey, lived in Dijon.
The manuscripts in this style are remarkable for being so varied and free from repetition, whether in decoration, iconography or mise-en-page. The present Hours has some miniatures with the architectural surrounds that are the most characteristic of the Master's framing devices, but here they may serve both as fictive bays where figures are painted in a camaïeu d'or technique with flesh and drapery lightly coloured with pink or blue, or as embrasures revealing scenes beyond the frame. Other miniatures -- much rarer in the Master's oeuvre -- are almost full-page and are a reminder that he also painted on a monumental scale, providing murals for the Chapelle dorée of Ferry de Clugny in Autun cathedral.
No element of the illumination shows the invention and range of the style better than the scenes and figures -- many of them triggered by a word or phrase of the neighbouring text -- incorporated in the panel borders on every page. One striking and unusual inclusion are the male nudes that look as though they may have been drawn from classical sources: Aquarius is shown as though showering himself (f.1v), May is illustrated with a near-naked man carrying a small tree and racing off on the back of a rearing horse (f.5v), and a shield-holding nude poses among the daisies and strawberries of matins of the Office of the Virgin (f.45).
The subjects of the miniatures and full-page borders are as follows:
f.14 St Luke writing, a cardinal seated beside him, in the niches of the border the Evangelist's ox, an angel and a haloed pope
f.15v St Matthew writing, a haloed bishop seated beside him, in the niches of the border the Evangelist's angel holding his inkwell, four angels
f.17v St Mark writing, a haloed pope seated beside him, in the niches the Evangelist's lion and three angels
f.18v Lamentation over the body of Christ, in the niches of the border Christ's empty tomb with an angel, the three Maries and two angels with instruments of the Passion
f.32 Pentecost, with a scene showing the death of Absalom below the four lines of text and apostles with the dove of the Holy Spirit in niches of the architectural border (full-page miniature)
f.46v Visitation, in three-quarter length, in the niches of the border Joseph and the angel
f.59 Nativity with the Virgin and Joseph adoring the Christ Child, in three-quarter length, in the niches angels and groups of shepherds
f.63 Annunciation to the shepherds, in three-quarter length, in the niches a flock of sheep and cattle and groups of shepherds
f.66v Presentation in the Temple, in three-quarter length, in the niches a woman carrying a baby and accompanied by a child, a shepherd carrying a sheep, a group and two single acolytes
f.73 Flight into Egypt, in three-quarter length, in the niches the Virgin and Child, a soldier taking a sword to a mother and baby and Herod watching the slaughter of another mother and child
f.78v Coronation of the Virgin, in the niches groups of acolytes and angels
f.83 King David in penitence, with David slaying Goliath in the foreground below four lines of text (full-page miniature)
f.101 Job on the dungheap, with a the Three Living and Three Dead in a foreground scene below four lines of text (full-page miniature)
The pairs of small Calendar miniatures are: January (f.1r&v) a man warming his feet, and Aquarius; February (f.2r&v) two men digging, and Pisces; March (f.3r&v) pruning, and Aries; April (f.4r&v) a courtly man with branches, and Taurus; May (f.5r&v) a naked man holding a small tree and seated sideways on a prancing white horse, and Gemini naked and embracing; June (f.6r&v) harvesting, and Leo; July (f.7r&v) haymaking, and Cancer as two black crayfish; August (8r&v) flailing, and Virgo; September (9r&v) sowing, and Libra in an interior; October (f.10r&v) treading grapes, and Scorpio; November (f.11r&v) a man feeding his hog with acorns, and a two-legged Sagittarius; December (12r&v) a man and his wife slaughtering a hog, and Capricorn.
There are text-high miniatures in the margins of folios: 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26, 31, 35, 59v, 62, 66, 68, 69, 72, 74, 78, 79, 93, 104 and 112.
There are large figures or groups within the panel borders on folios 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 42, 45, 45v, 60, 61, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 80, 81, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93v, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 113 and 114.
[Burgundy, c.1485-90]
218 x 154mm. iii + 114 leaves: 1-26, 47(of 8, lacking i), 54(of 8, lacking iii-vi), 65(of 6, lacking iii), 77(of 8, lacking i), 87(of 8, lacking i), 9-178, five of the lacking leaves likely with miniatures, 16 lines written in dark brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 17 horizontals ruled in pink, top and bottom horizontals across margins, justification: 107 x 70mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched yellow, opening initial of blue patterned white on a ground of burnished gold with ivy-leaves of pink and blue, one- and two-line initials of liquid gold on grounds alternately of blue and dark red with gold filigree, additional ruling in pink for PANEL BORDERS, with sprays of acanthus and naturalistic flowers, and incorporating HOLY AND RELIGIOUS PERSONS, ANIMALS AND GROTESQUES, those of the Calendar including TWENTY-FOUR SMALL MINIATURES OF THE OCCUPATIONS AND ZODIAC SIGNS in arched frames, TWENTY-TWO MARGINAL MINIATURES taking the place of border panels on other leaves, THREE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES containing small areas of text and TWELVE COMBINED MINIATURES AND BORDERS with architectural framing providing niches to house figures or scenes related to the central subject (a few miniatures with small pigment losses, flaking of gold to some of major feasts in the Calendar). 18th-century red morocco gilt with shaped panels on sides (rebacked and some restoration).
AN UNKNOWN MANUSCRIPT MADE FOR THE GREAT DIJON FAMILY BY THE MASTER OF THE BURGUNDIAN PRELATES
PROVENANCE:
1. The style of illumination and feasts in gold in the Calendar (Didier 23 May, Mammas 17 August, Philibert 20 August) show that the manuscript was made in the diocese of Langres, which at this date included Dijon. The prayer Obsecro te is in the masculine form. An angel in the border of folio 69v holds a shield with the coat of arms azure, a sheep argent. These were the arms borne by the Dijon family Berbisey: J. d'Arbaumont, 'Mémoires sur les origines de la famille Berbisey', Mémoires de la Commission des Antiquités de la Côte d'Or, vi, 1861/64,pp.33-46. Of the 130 or so foliate panel borders that include a figure of a religious, beast or grotesque, in almost a third the creature included is a sheep. This canting reference to the brebis of the family name also featured in the decoration of the oratory and the hôtel, in rue Berbisey, put up by Thomas Berbisey, secretary to Louis XI and, after the king's death, appointed secretaire des finances en Bourgogne in 1481. The manuscript is likely to have been made for either Thomas or for his father Etienne, who was mayor of Dijon in 1477 and who died in 1501. Thomas was clearly a discerning patron for his Book of Hours in Paris (BnF lat.1374) includes an added miniature of St Bénigne by Jean Poyet.
2. Marc René Anne Marie, comte de Montalembert, soldier and French diplomat (1777-1831): his bookstamp on ff.1 and 114v, and his armorial charge tooled in gilt in the compartments of the spine. A member of one of France's oldest and most distinguished families, Marc René joined the English army in 1799 and served with distinction in Egypt, Spain and Portugal. In 1814 the Prince Regent appointed him to announce to Louis XVIII his accession to the throne. He returned to France with the prince and subsequently took up diplomatic posts in London, Stuttgart and Copenhagen. He was raised to the nobility in 1819. His political views resulted in the loss of his diplomatic position under Richelieu but he was appointed ambassador to Sweden 1826-1829.
3.Charles Forbes, comte de Montalembert (1810-1870) and his wife Marie Anne Henriette, comtesse de Mérode (m.1836): their circular armorial bookplate inside upper cover and illuminated on f.iii verso. The eldest son of Marc René, Charles Forbes René was a significant figure in French political life, an orator and writer on liberal Catholicism, a religious historian and a member of the Académie Française.
4. Guillaume-Charles-Hubert, comte de Hemricourt de Grunne (b.1882) and his wife, Henriette-Charlotte-Eugenie-Marie-Ghislaine, comtesse de Mérode (b.1880): their armorial bookplate inside the upper cover; they married in 1920. Guillaume-Charles-Hubert de Hemricourt de Grunne was the son of François comte de Hemricourt de Grunne and Madeleine de Montalembert, the daughter of Charles Forbes, Comte de Montalembert. Loose within the volume is a letter about the manuscript written to him in 1942, by André Butineau.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff. 13-18v; Obsecro te, lacking ending ff.18v-21v; Mass of the Virgin, lacking opening ff.22-25v; Hours of the Sacrament, lacking opening ff.26-28; Hours of the Cross, lacking opening ff.29-31v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.32-35; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.36-81v: matins, lacking opening f.36, lauds f.46v, prime f.59, terce f.63, sext f.66v, none f.69v, vespers f.73, compline f.78v; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.83-95v; Litany and Collects ff.96-100; Office of the Dead, use of Rome ff.101-114v.
ILLUMINATION
This is a splendid example of the original and idiosyncratic work produced by the Master of the Burgundian Prelates and his workshop. The Master was identified and named by Nicole Reynaud from the illumination of a group of liturgical books made for eminent and powerful ecclesiastics of Langres, Dijon and Autun: 'Un peintre français de la fin du XVe siècle: le Maître des prelats bourguignons', Etudes d'art français offertes à Charles Sterling (1975), pp.151-163. He also provided eminent citizens -- such as the Berbisey -- with Books of Hours, and his workshop appears entirely to have dominated the market for liturgical and devotional manuscripts in Burgundy. It is not certain where he worked but those owners of Hours who can be localised mostly, like the Berbisey, lived in Dijon.
The manuscripts in this style are remarkable for being so varied and free from repetition, whether in decoration, iconography or mise-en-page. The present Hours has some miniatures with the architectural surrounds that are the most characteristic of the Master's framing devices, but here they may serve both as fictive bays where figures are painted in a camaïeu d'or technique with flesh and drapery lightly coloured with pink or blue, or as embrasures revealing scenes beyond the frame. Other miniatures -- much rarer in the Master's oeuvre -- are almost full-page and are a reminder that he also painted on a monumental scale, providing murals for the Chapelle dorée of Ferry de Clugny in Autun cathedral.
No element of the illumination shows the invention and range of the style better than the scenes and figures -- many of them triggered by a word or phrase of the neighbouring text -- incorporated in the panel borders on every page. One striking and unusual inclusion are the male nudes that look as though they may have been drawn from classical sources: Aquarius is shown as though showering himself (f.1v), May is illustrated with a near-naked man carrying a small tree and racing off on the back of a rearing horse (f.5v), and a shield-holding nude poses among the daisies and strawberries of matins of the Office of the Virgin (f.45).
The subjects of the miniatures and full-page borders are as follows:
f.14 St Luke writing, a cardinal seated beside him, in the niches of the border the Evangelist's ox, an angel and a haloed pope
f.15v St Matthew writing, a haloed bishop seated beside him, in the niches of the border the Evangelist's angel holding his inkwell, four angels
f.17v St Mark writing, a haloed pope seated beside him, in the niches the Evangelist's lion and three angels
f.18v Lamentation over the body of Christ, in the niches of the border Christ's empty tomb with an angel, the three Maries and two angels with instruments of the Passion
f.32 Pentecost, with a scene showing the death of Absalom below the four lines of text and apostles with the dove of the Holy Spirit in niches of the architectural border (full-page miniature)
f.46v Visitation, in three-quarter length, in the niches of the border Joseph and the angel
f.59 Nativity with the Virgin and Joseph adoring the Christ Child, in three-quarter length, in the niches angels and groups of shepherds
f.63 Annunciation to the shepherds, in three-quarter length, in the niches a flock of sheep and cattle and groups of shepherds
f.66v Presentation in the Temple, in three-quarter length, in the niches a woman carrying a baby and accompanied by a child, a shepherd carrying a sheep, a group and two single acolytes
f.73 Flight into Egypt, in three-quarter length, in the niches the Virgin and Child, a soldier taking a sword to a mother and baby and Herod watching the slaughter of another mother and child
f.78v Coronation of the Virgin, in the niches groups of acolytes and angels
f.83 King David in penitence, with David slaying Goliath in the foreground below four lines of text (full-page miniature)
f.101 Job on the dungheap, with a the Three Living and Three Dead in a foreground scene below four lines of text (full-page miniature)
The pairs of small Calendar miniatures are: January (f.1r&v) a man warming his feet, and Aquarius; February (f.2r&v) two men digging, and Pisces; March (f.3r&v) pruning, and Aries; April (f.4r&v) a courtly man with branches, and Taurus; May (f.5r&v) a naked man holding a small tree and seated sideways on a prancing white horse, and Gemini naked and embracing; June (f.6r&v) harvesting, and Leo; July (f.7r&v) haymaking, and Cancer as two black crayfish; August (8r&v) flailing, and Virgo; September (9r&v) sowing, and Libra in an interior; October (f.10r&v) treading grapes, and Scorpio; November (f.11r&v) a man feeding his hog with acorns, and a two-legged Sagittarius; December (12r&v) a man and his wife slaughtering a hog, and Capricorn.
There are text-high miniatures in the margins of folios: 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26, 31, 35, 59v, 62, 66, 68, 69, 72, 74, 78, 79, 93, 104 and 112.
There are large figures or groups within the panel borders on folios 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 42, 45, 45v, 60, 61, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 74, 76, 77, 80, 81, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93v, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 113 and 114.
Special notice
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