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Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, Paris, c.1400 and c.1490]
Details
Pseudo-Jacquemart and the workshop of the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne (Jean d'Ypres?)
Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, Paris, c.1400 and c.1490]
A fascinating example 'of an early renaissance miniaturist confronting the archaic compositions of international gothic': an entrancing Book of Hours begun at the turn of the 15th century by an artist from the milieu of the great Jacquemart de Hesdin and completed at the end of the 15th century by the workshop of Jean d'Ypres, otherwise known as the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne.
133 x 92mm. 279 leaves, complete, collation: 111(of 12, i a pastedown), 2-278, 289(vi an inserted singleton), 29-348, 353(of 4, iv a pastedown), modern foliation repeats 61, followed here, 1-277, catchwords and a few leaf signatures survive, 12 lines written by more than one scribe, ruled space: 72 x 48mm, rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, small initials and line-fillers throughout in burnished gold on red and blue grounds, larger illuminated initials with full-length bar-borders with ivy sprays throughout, sometimes including dragons, 3 large miniatures within within full ivy-leaf borders (misbound: gatherings 14-16, i.e. ff.107-130 should follow gathering 23, between ff.186-187, some light cockling and smudges else in good condition). Bound in 15th-century blind-stamped calf over wooden board, stamped with rows of small tools including a quatrefoil in a square, a flower on a stem with prickly leaves; a bee (see E.P. Goldschmidt, Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings, 1967, pl. XX), gilt edges, metal catches (rebacked with part of old spine laid on, other subsequent repairs to spine, joints broken and repaired, bands broken after gathering 23, lacking clasps, a little scuffed).
Provenance:
(1) The manuscript was begun in Paris at the turn of the 15th century by an accomplished artist working in the milieu of Jacquemart de Hesdin (see Illumination below), who is responsible for the miniature depicting the funeral scene opening the Office of the Dead. The Office of the Dead is for the use of Rome, but insertions have been made (ff.258-9: the catchword on f.257v refers to the text on f.260) to bring it into line with the use of Paris, which is the liturgical use of the Hours of the Virgin.
(2) Two memorials to Sts Claude and Eugendus, both monks at the abbey of Condat, are added on ff.176-178v. The original programme of illumination must have been left unfinished: the other two miniatures date from the end of the 15th century, when the book was bound.
(3) 'J. Lescotii' signed in an elegant 16th-century italic hand on f.1.
(4) Abbot Nicolas-Pierre Ythier (1738-1809), dean and canon of the church of Saint-Quiriace in Provins: his printed bookplate, inscribed 'No. 17' in ink (for another manuscript with the same provenance, inscribed 'No. 16', see a Processional at the Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.1214). By descent to his niece:
(5) Mme Colin de Saint-Marc (1758-1836), of Coulommiers: her printed bookplate. Her husband, Alexandre Jean Roch Colin de Saint-Marc (1743-1814) was a 'receveur general' in Rouen.
(6) Manuel John Johnson (1805-1859), soldier and astronomer: his signature in pencil on f.1; his sale at Sotheby's, 27 May 1862, lot 39.
(7) Robert Young, C.E., of Belfast: late 19th-century note by him pasted inside upper cover; his sale, with other manuscripts from the same source, at Sotheby's, 8 July 1974, lot 80.
(8) Sotheby's, 20 June 1989, lot 55.
Contents:
Gospel Sequences ff.4-12v; Obsecro te ff.12v-18; a prayer to St Peter of Luxembourg (d.1387, beatified 1527, still not canonised but frequently treated as a saint in the Middle Ages) ff.18v-25; O Intemerata and other prayers ff.25-35v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Paris, with the Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit intermixed, ff.36-173v: matins f.36, lauds f.71, prime f.90v, terce f.101v, sext f.134, none f.142v, vespers f.150v, compline f.162; Stabat mater and prayers to Sts Claude and Oyend ff.173v-178v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.179-189 (misbound, the correct sequence ff.179-186, 107-130, 187-189); prayers for various occasions, in French and Latin, ff.189-210v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.211-277.
Illumination:
The miniature for the Office of the Dead is close in style to the work of Jacquemart de Hesdin, a leading figure among the illuminators who worked for Jean de Berry during one of the greatest periods of French manuscript illumination. Specifically, it resembles the work of an anonymous artist dubbed by Millard Meiss 'Pseudo-Jacquemart', a collaborator of Jacquemart, whose activity can be traced from the late 1380s to 1411 (see M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry, the late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 1967, esp. pp.151-4, 179-91 and pl.176; more recently E. Taburet-Delahaye and F. Avril, Paris 1400, les arts sous Charles VI, 2004, esp. pp.103-104, cats 41-3). The two artists probably collaborated on some of the deluxe manuscripts commissioned by Jean de Berry, including the Petites Heures and the Grandes Heures; our artist, who was more often tasked with scenes in the Calendar or small miniatures, adopted the general style of Jacquemart, but his work is distinguished by a predilection for more spontaneous movement, a greater reliance on line, and a more intense colour palette. In her description of the four miniatures at the MFA Boston, Anne Hedeman describes the style of Pseudo-Jacquemart: '[the faces have] characteristically long noses and heavy, almost swollen, eyes [...] and employ vibrant colours, especially the violet, yellow, and acid green (Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections, ed. Jeffrey Hamburger et al., 2016, no 76). The composition of the funeral scene in the present manuscript finds a compelling parallel in an equivalent scene in a Book of Hours in Paris, Bnf. latin 18014, f.217.
The other two miniatures, though designed to match the earlier style of the book, are painted some 90 years later in the workshop of the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne, an artist named after the splendid Book of Hours produced around 1498 for Anne of Brittany, now Paris, BnF, nouv. acq. lat. 3120. The artist's career, activity and identification are complex: he is also variously known as the Master of the Apocalypse Rose of the Sainte-Chapelle, after the designs he provided for the famous stained-glasswork for the royal chapel at the behest by Charles VIII; and also the Master of the Chasse à la licorne for the tapestries now at the Cloisters in New York. He is now identified as the painter Jean d'Ypres, whose documented career extends from c.1490-1508, yet, the volume and diversity of his production suggest a flourishing workshop and not a lone individual. The hand here is identical to that responsible for the illumination of a Book of Hours sold at Christie's, 12 July 2017, lot 18.
It is likely that the manuscript had been left unfinished after the first programme of illumination at the turn of the 15th century: perhaps the remaining miniatures had been designed and drawn by the earlier artist, but it was only several decades later that they were completed by the workshop of Jean d'Ypres. In his 1989 cataloguing, Christopher de Hamel made a tantalising analogy: 'the obvious parallel case is that of the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry, which has many miniatures by Jean Colombe, c.1485, over drawings by the Limbourgs, c.1410. It is fascinating as evidence of an early renaissance miniaturist confronting the archaic compositions of international gothic'.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: the Annunciation f.36; the Last Judgement f.179; a Funeral Service f.211.
Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, Paris, c.1400 and c.1490]
A fascinating example 'of an early renaissance miniaturist confronting the archaic compositions of international gothic': an entrancing Book of Hours begun at the turn of the 15th century by an artist from the milieu of the great Jacquemart de Hesdin and completed at the end of the 15th century by the workshop of Jean d'Ypres, otherwise known as the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne.
133 x 92mm. 279 leaves, complete, collation: 111(of 12, i a pastedown), 2-278, 289(vi an inserted singleton), 29-348, 353(of 4, iv a pastedown), modern foliation repeats 61, followed here, 1-277, catchwords and a few leaf signatures survive, 12 lines written by more than one scribe, ruled space: 72 x 48mm, rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, small initials and line-fillers throughout in burnished gold on red and blue grounds, larger illuminated initials with full-length bar-borders with ivy sprays throughout, sometimes including dragons, 3 large miniatures within within full ivy-leaf borders (misbound: gatherings 14-16, i.e. ff.107-130 should follow gathering 23, between ff.186-187, some light cockling and smudges else in good condition). Bound in 15th-century blind-stamped calf over wooden board, stamped with rows of small tools including a quatrefoil in a square, a flower on a stem with prickly leaves; a bee (see E.P. Goldschmidt, Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings, 1967, pl. XX), gilt edges, metal catches (rebacked with part of old spine laid on, other subsequent repairs to spine, joints broken and repaired, bands broken after gathering 23, lacking clasps, a little scuffed).
Provenance:
(1) The manuscript was begun in Paris at the turn of the 15th century by an accomplished artist working in the milieu of Jacquemart de Hesdin (see Illumination below), who is responsible for the miniature depicting the funeral scene opening the Office of the Dead. The Office of the Dead is for the use of Rome, but insertions have been made (ff.258-9: the catchword on f.257v refers to the text on f.260) to bring it into line with the use of Paris, which is the liturgical use of the Hours of the Virgin.
(2) Two memorials to Sts Claude and Eugendus, both monks at the abbey of Condat, are added on ff.176-178v. The original programme of illumination must have been left unfinished: the other two miniatures date from the end of the 15th century, when the book was bound.
(3) 'J. Lescotii' signed in an elegant 16th-century italic hand on f.1.
(4) Abbot Nicolas-Pierre Ythier (1738-1809), dean and canon of the church of Saint-Quiriace in Provins: his printed bookplate, inscribed 'No. 17' in ink (for another manuscript with the same provenance, inscribed 'No. 16', see a Processional at the Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.1214). By descent to his niece:
(5) Mme Colin de Saint-Marc (1758-1836), of Coulommiers: her printed bookplate. Her husband, Alexandre Jean Roch Colin de Saint-Marc (1743-1814) was a 'receveur general' in Rouen.
(6) Manuel John Johnson (1805-1859), soldier and astronomer: his signature in pencil on f.1; his sale at Sotheby's, 27 May 1862, lot 39.
(7) Robert Young, C.E., of Belfast: late 19th-century note by him pasted inside upper cover; his sale, with other manuscripts from the same source, at Sotheby's, 8 July 1974, lot 80.
(8) Sotheby's, 20 June 1989, lot 55.
Contents:
Gospel Sequences ff.4-12v; Obsecro te ff.12v-18; a prayer to St Peter of Luxembourg (d.1387, beatified 1527, still not canonised but frequently treated as a saint in the Middle Ages) ff.18v-25; O Intemerata and other prayers ff.25-35v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Paris, with the Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit intermixed, ff.36-173v: matins f.36, lauds f.71, prime f.90v, terce f.101v, sext f.134, none f.142v, vespers f.150v, compline f.162; Stabat mater and prayers to Sts Claude and Oyend ff.173v-178v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.179-189 (misbound, the correct sequence ff.179-186, 107-130, 187-189); prayers for various occasions, in French and Latin, ff.189-210v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.211-277.
Illumination:
The miniature for the Office of the Dead is close in style to the work of Jacquemart de Hesdin, a leading figure among the illuminators who worked for Jean de Berry during one of the greatest periods of French manuscript illumination. Specifically, it resembles the work of an anonymous artist dubbed by Millard Meiss 'Pseudo-Jacquemart', a collaborator of Jacquemart, whose activity can be traced from the late 1380s to 1411 (see M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry, the late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 1967, esp. pp.151-4, 179-91 and pl.176; more recently E. Taburet-Delahaye and F. Avril, Paris 1400, les arts sous Charles VI, 2004, esp. pp.103-104, cats 41-3). The two artists probably collaborated on some of the deluxe manuscripts commissioned by Jean de Berry, including the Petites Heures and the Grandes Heures; our artist, who was more often tasked with scenes in the Calendar or small miniatures, adopted the general style of Jacquemart, but his work is distinguished by a predilection for more spontaneous movement, a greater reliance on line, and a more intense colour palette. In her description of the four miniatures at the MFA Boston, Anne Hedeman describes the style of Pseudo-Jacquemart: '[the faces have] characteristically long noses and heavy, almost swollen, eyes [...] and employ vibrant colours, especially the violet, yellow, and acid green (Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections, ed. Jeffrey Hamburger et al., 2016, no 76). The composition of the funeral scene in the present manuscript finds a compelling parallel in an equivalent scene in a Book of Hours in Paris, Bnf. latin 18014, f.217.
The other two miniatures, though designed to match the earlier style of the book, are painted some 90 years later in the workshop of the Master of the Très Petites Heures of Anne de Bretagne, an artist named after the splendid Book of Hours produced around 1498 for Anne of Brittany, now Paris, BnF, nouv. acq. lat. 3120. The artist's career, activity and identification are complex: he is also variously known as the Master of the Apocalypse Rose of the Sainte-Chapelle, after the designs he provided for the famous stained-glasswork for the royal chapel at the behest by Charles VIII; and also the Master of the Chasse à la licorne for the tapestries now at the Cloisters in New York. He is now identified as the painter Jean d'Ypres, whose documented career extends from c.1490-1508, yet, the volume and diversity of his production suggest a flourishing workshop and not a lone individual. The hand here is identical to that responsible for the illumination of a Book of Hours sold at Christie's, 12 July 2017, lot 18.
It is likely that the manuscript had been left unfinished after the first programme of illumination at the turn of the 15th century: perhaps the remaining miniatures had been designed and drawn by the earlier artist, but it was only several decades later that they were completed by the workshop of Jean d'Ypres. In his 1989 cataloguing, Christopher de Hamel made a tantalising analogy: 'the obvious parallel case is that of the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry, which has many miniatures by Jean Colombe, c.1485, over drawings by the Limbourgs, c.1410. It is fascinating as evidence of an early renaissance miniaturist confronting the archaic compositions of international gothic'.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: the Annunciation f.36; the Last Judgement f.179; a Funeral Service f.211.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts