VENDU
8vo (135 x 91 mm). i + 187 + i leaves (including 4 lined but unfoliated flyleaves foliated to 180s). Collation: mostly in gatherings of 8. An approximate collation: 1 12(i + 11), 2-38, 46, 5-610, 78, 89(8+1), 9-108, 116, 128, 135(4+1), 148, 155(4+1, singleton at f. 118 [116]?), 166, 178, 1810, 198, 206, 2112, 228, 2310(6+iv) + I; 1 original parchment front flyleaf, unnumbered, 4 original parchment rear flyleaves, unnumbered, plus 2 modern parchment endleaves and 1 paper endleaf front and rear. Modern pencil foliation in bottom right corners, to 180, with inclusion of 47b and 78b, thus true foliation +1 from 47b and +2 from 78b. – Text justification: c. 75 x 48 mm. 16 lines, 1 column, ruled in red. Written in dark brown ink in Gothic Textura script, rubrics in red; calendar in dark brown with principal feasts in red. – 1- and 2-line initials in lavender acanthus on burnt orange grounds with liquid gold tracery; line endings of the same type; larger 5- and 6-line initials of liquid gold acanthus trompe-l’oeil on various coloured grounds, with rose, pink, blue, lavender, and green, occasionally with a single flower as infill; 46 miniatures of which 24 illuminated calendar vignettes, 5 small, and 17 full-page illuminated miniatures with full trompe l’oeil borders and matching full borders on the facing pages. – In very clean condition, with some thumbing at edges of illuminated leaves, very slight pigment loss in a few places at the beginning of the book (for example, f. 1v), damp staining from ff. 172 (170)-end. – Bound in elaborately gilt-tooled black leather over wooden boards, in the style of 16th-century Salamanca bindings, slipcased.
1 in stock
A jewel-like Ghent-Bruges-style book of hours from the workshop of the Master of the Prayerbooks of 1500, shining with 46 miniatures in elaborate trompe l’oeil borders. Of distinguished provenance, in the last century belonging to Belgian steel magnate, the Baron Launoit.
Text
NB: The pencil foliation in the manuscript includes double numbering at 47 and 78. In the interest of both accuracy and clarity, we have included the correct foliation, followed by the pencil foliation in parentheses.
ff. 1v-13 Calendar, with the following saints in red: Bishop Eligius (1 December), Eligius (25 June), Egidius abbot (1 September), Basilius (12 June), Bavo and Remigius (1 October), and the Translation of Thomas (3 July)
ff. 13v-14 blank (13v lined)
ff. 15-21v Short Hours of the Cross
f. 22 blank
ff. 23-29v Short Hours of the Holy Spirit
f. 30 blank
ff. 31-36v Mass of the Virgin Mary
ff. 37-43 Sequences of the Gospels, John (f. 37), Luke (f. 38), Matthew (f. 40), and Mark (f. 42)
ff. 43v-44 blank (43v lined)
ff. 45-116 (114) Hours of the Virgin (Use of Rome): f. 66 (f. 65) Lauds; f. 79 (f. 78) Prime; f. 85 (f. 83) Terce; f. 91 (f. 89) Sext; f. 96 (f. 94) None; f. 101 (f. 99) Vespers; f. 110 (f. 108) Compline [2]
ff. 116v (114v)-117 (115) blank, f. 116v (114v) lined
ff. 118 (116)-135 (133) Seven Penitential Psalms and litanies
ff. 135v (133v)-136 (134) blank, 135v (133v) lined
ff. 137 (135)-165 (163) Office of the Dead
f. 166 (164) blank
ff. 167 (165)-171 (169) Obsecro te
ff. 171 (169)-174 (172) O intemerata
ff. 174 (172)-175 (173) Verses of St. Bernard
ff. 175v (173v)-176 (174) blank, 175v (173v) lined
ff. 177 (175)-177v (175v) Memoria de sancto Jacobo
f. 178 (176) blank
ff. 179 (177)-179v (177v) De sancta Barbara
f. 180 (178) blank
ff. 181 (179)-182 (180) Memoria de sancto xpoforo
ff. 182v (180v)-186v lined blanks
[2] Blanks or lined blanks at ff. 83v(81v), 84 (82), 89v (87v), 90 (88), 95 (93), 100 (98), 109 (107).
Illumination
The present, beautiful prayerbook is illuminated in the “Ghent-Bruges” style by an artist of the circle of the Master of the Prayerbooks. Saints from Ghent and Bruges are in red in the calendar, and the miniatures follow the pictorial legacy of Jan van Eyck.
The height of the Renaissance in manuscript illumination in Northern Europe is represented by the so-called Ghent Bruges style of painting practiced in these two cities around 1500. It is characterized by trompe l’oeil decoration of birds, insects, and flowers strewn across grounds of golden yellow and by miniatures that echo paintings by many of the most important masters of the Flemish Renaissance. In clean and fresh condition, the present example is a luxurious version of Ghent-Bruges illumination with many full-page miniatures resembling little panel paintings, with richly imaginative borders of great diversity, and with a fully illuminated calendar portraying the Signs of the Zodiac with the Labors of the Months showing scenes from everyday life. The head of the atelier responsible for the decoration, the Master of the Prayerbooks, was a frequent practitioner of the style, and is a contributor to the Rothschild Hours, which holds the record for the most expensive Book of Hours ever sold.
The Master of the Prayerbooks of 1500 was the leading exponent of the Ghent-Bruges style; his sobriquet, giving by Friedrich Winkler, coming from the fact that many prayer books are associated with his hand. He was probably active in Bruges, although features of Ghent painting figure in his work, and he and/or his workshop may have worked in both locations. His stylistic origins are in the work of the Master of Mary of Burgundy (note here the trompe l’oeil border surrounding the Raising of Lazarus that echoes the Master of Mary of Burgundy’s border of the same type in the Hours of Engelbrecht of Nassau. See Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Douce 219-220, 2 volumes) and in monumental Flemish painting (note the Annunciation in the Church after Van Eyck’s Berlin and Washington Annunciations and the St. Barbara after Van Eyck’s drawing of the same subject). One of his masterpieces, however, by which his style can best be characterised, is not a prayerbook at all but rather a Roman de la Rose made for Engelbert of Nassau (London, BL, Harley ms. 4425; for extensive bibliography, see Dogaer 1987, p. 159. See also de Kesel 1992, pp. 182-202).
The present manuscript is an especially nice example of his workshop’s style since it includes a harmonious series of facing border pages for each full-page miniature and in is very clean, fresh condition.
Miniatures
NB: The pencil foliation in the manuscript includes double numbering at 47 and 78. In the interest of both accuracy and clarity, we have included the correct foliation, followed by the pencil foliation in parentheses.
ff. 1v-2 January, a wealthy man warming himself by the fire in front of a table; a boy pouring water (Aquarius); ¾ border with prayer beads, gold vessel set into architectural borders
ff. 2v-3 February, a man pruning trees; two fish (Pisces); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground borders with butterflies, a moth, a caterpillar, fruit
ff. 3v-4 March, a man preparing soil; ram (Aries), ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with snail, flowers
ff. 4v-5 April, a couple courting on the lawn; bull (Taurus); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with moth, flowers
ff. 5v-6 May, a man offering a flowering plant to a woman in a window (courtship); two children quarrelling (Gemini); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with caterpillars, butterfly, flowers
ff. 6v-7 June, a man with a scythe in a field drinking from a flask; reptile (Cancer); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with snail, caterpillar, butterfly.
ff. 7v-8 July, a man harvesting wheat; a lion (Leo); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with butterflies, bird, strawberries, flowers
ff. 8v-9 August, a man sowing wheat; young girl with a palm leaf (Virgo); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with fly, butterflies, caterpillars, flowers
ff. 9v-10 September, a man stomping grapes in a vat; a young girl holding scales (Libra); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with grapes on vines, birds
ff. 10v-11 October, a man planting seeds; a scorpion (Scorpio); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with berries, fly, caterpillar, butterfly
ff. 11v-12 November, a man knocking acorns from a tree for a group of swine; an archer (Sagittarius); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with grisaille acanthus, birds
ff. 12v-13 December, a man roasting a pig on fire; a ram (Capricorn); ¾ trompe l’oeil gold-ground border with gold branches with acorns, birds
The miniatures listed below are full-page miniatures unless otherwise noted:
f. 14v Crucifixion, set within a full-opening trompe l’oeil architectural border forming an altar, with facing page border with the Instruments of the Passion
f. 22v Pentecost placed in a medieval church setting, with a full-opening architectural trompe l’oeil border filled with flowers in niches, lattice work, banderols, and on the facing page, a dove in the central bottom border
f. 30v Virgo Lactans, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on a liquid gold ground with birds (including a peahen), a caterpillar, butterfly, snail, and a fly
f. 37 St. John with his eagle, small miniature with a 3/4 trompe l’oeil border on a gold ground with strawberries, a caterpillar, butterfly, and flowers
f. 38v St. Luke with his ox, small miniature with a 3/4 trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with butterflies, a snail, and flowers
f. 40 St. Matthew and the angel, small miniature with a 3/4 trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with a bird, butterflies, and flowers
f. 42 St. Mark with his lion, small miniature with a 3/4 trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with butterflies, a fly, and flowers
f. 44v Annunciation in a church with a sculpted pillar at the centre, with full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on gold ground, with peacocks in the lower margins along with birds, a caterpillar, butterflies, a fly, and flowers
f. 65v (64v) Visitation set within a lush Flemish landscape, with full-opening trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with snails, a caterpillar, butterflies, flies, and flowers
f. 78v (77v) Nativity in which Jesus reaches out and touches an angel, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil border set into an illusionistic landscape with a pond in a garden filled with birds and ducks, with peacocks below the Nativity and with trees with birds perched within framing the outside edges
f. 84v (82v) Annunciation to the Shepherds on a hilly landscape, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with birds, butterflies, flowers, and in the bottom margins hybrid creatures including an unusual crowned grotesque: part man, part bird, part reptile at right (a reference to King Herod?)
f. 90v (88v) Adoration of the Magi, with full-opening trompe l’oeil border with a peacock at the bottom left, butterflies, birds, strawberries, and flowers, including irises
f. 95v (93v) Presentation in the Temple, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border with birds, butterflies, strawberries, a caterpillar, and flowers
f. 100v (98v) Massacre of the Innocents with Herod looking on from the upper left, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with butterflies, a snail, a caterpillar, a fly, strawberries, and flowers, including pansies
f. 109v (107v) Flight into Egypt with a young-looking Joseph, with charming genre scenes of town and country life in the distance, with full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on gold ground with birds, butterflies, a snail, strawberries, and flowers, including irises
f. 117v (115v) David in Prayer, his harp and crown on the ground, Herod in the house in the upper-right of the background, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil border, showing a pond with ducks and birds, with rabbits at the foredge, and with water fountains framing the outside edges
f. 136v (134v) Raising of Lazarus with town in background, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil architectural border on a black ground with skulls in niches, lattice work, banderols with “memento moriens(?)”, and flowers
f. 166v (164v) Pieta at the foot of the Cross, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on gold ground, with butterflies, a caterpillar, a fly, a bird eating grapes, strawberries, irises and other flowers
f. 174 (172) St. Bernard and the Devil, small miniature with 3/4 trompe l’oeil border on gold ground with butterfly, flowers, and a hybrid creature with the a cock’s head at left and a human head sprouting from its rear at right
f. 176v (174v) St. James the Major, shown as a pilgrim with staff and badges, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on gold ground with a bird, butterflies, snails, a caterpillar, strawberries, and flowers
f. 178v (176v) St. Barbara in a garden next to her tower, which is in the process of construction, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on gold ground, with a peacock at right, a bird, a snail, a caterpillar, and butterflies
f. 180v (178v) St. Christopher with the Christ child, with a full-opening trompe l’oeil floral border on gold ground, with birds, butterflies, and a caterpillar
Provenance
1. Georges Russell, signature on first parchment flyleaf, and on f. 1, in the same hand: “There was a paper pined to a leaf which now is lost but it dated this book to year 1501.” Possibly Lord George Russel (1790-1846), British solder, politician, and diplomat.
2. Brussels, Baron de Launoit, 20th-century Belgian steel magnates and bankers, founder of the Banque de Bruxelles-Cofindus-Brufina, book-plate inside front cover. Likely Paul Auguste Cyrille, Baron de Launoit (1891-1981): “Bibliophile, Belgian industrialist who served as an advisor to Kings Albert I and Leopold III, for which he was rewarded with titles, being made baron in 1929 and count in 1951. A patron of the arts, de Launoit amassed a significant library, with his largue collection of works relating to Voltaire now held in the Royal Library in Brussels.” (Bernard Quaritch, Bindings & Illustrated Books (11/2018), no. 8: https://www.quaritch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Bindings.pdf).
3. Houston, TX, James and Elizabeth Ferrell Collection.
4. Europe, private collection.
Literature
Unpublished.
Further reading:
Dogaer, Georges. Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries. Amsterdam 1987, pp. 159-60.
Kesel, Lieve de. “Cambridge U.L. MS. Add.4100: A Book of Hours Illuminated by the Master of the Prayerbooks of Circa 1500.” Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 10 (1992): 182-202.
De Kesel, Godelieve. “The Master of the Prayer Books of around 1500 in the Spotlight: an Investigation of the artist(s), the oeuvre, their colleagues and their patrons.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Ghent, 2013.
Kren, Thomas and Scot McKendrick. Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe. Los Angeles 2003, pp. 394-407.
Smeyers, M. L’Art de la miniature flamande, VIIIe aux XVIe siècle. Tournai 1998, pp. 426-27.
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