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BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris and north-eastern France, c.1440-70].
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris and north-eastern France, c.1440-70]. 189 x 132mm. 206 leaves, bound too tightly to allow collation, modern foliation in pencil followed here, ruled space: 96 x 59mm. THREE LARGE MINIATURES WITHIN FULL BORDERS , illuminated initials throughout (lacking the end of the Suffrage to Apollonia before f.19, the miniature opening the Hours of the Virgin before f.39 and the miniature opening the Seven Penitential Psalms before f.104, some soiling and cockling to opening leaves, light marginal staining). 17th-century blind-tooled leather over wooden boards (rebacked, lightly scuffed). PROVENANCE : (1) The style of illumination indicates a Parisian production of the mid-15th century. The Obsecro te is in the masculine, as are the prayers at end, but a contemporary addition on f.179 in the same hand as the inserted suffrages to Barbara, Katherine and Apollonia at the beginning is in the feminine, indicating that an early female owner either had a particular affinity to these saints, or perhaps was named Barbara herself. (2) Several imprints of pilgrim badges, possibly contemporary, on f.1v. (3) JACQUES CHAPET (1754-1838), of Auxerre: his ex-libris on upper pastedown. (4) Bequest of Mrs A. M. MINTURN , 1890, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. CONTENT : Blank f.1; calendar ff.2-13v; contemporary additions with suffrages to Barbara, Katherine and the end of the suffrage to Apollonia ff.14-19; prayers ff.20-26v; Gospel extracts ff.27-32; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.32-38v; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff. 39-103v: matins f.39, lauds f.56v, prime f.57v, terce f.71v, sext f.76, none f.80, vespers f.84, compline f.91; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.104-119v; Hours of the Cross ff.120-122; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.122v-125v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.126-169; prayers to be said during the mass ff.170-176; suffrage to St Sebastian ff.176-177; prayers, hymns and devotions to the Virgin, angels, saints and martyrs ff.178-202v; ruled blanks ff.203-206. ILLUMINATION : The miniatures depicting Pentecost and the Burial scene are the late and exquisite work of the Master of the Munich Golden Legend (fl. in Paris, c. 1420-1460), named after a copy of that text, now Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. gall. 3. His style is related to that of the Bedford Master, with whose workshop he often collaborated. The Master’s crisp, clean lines, his habit of delineating facial features in black and his outlining areas of colour are all characteristic of his early work (British Library, Add. 18192, for example) but grow more subtle and more subdued as he gets older. The two miniatures in the present manuscript are the output of the artist at the peak of his career (and particularly close to British Library, Harley 5762 – see in particular the Burial scene at f.116). The miniature depicting St Barbara is by a different artist, exceptional in his modeling of the figure and the draperies. There are hints of Flanders in his style, especially in the treatment of the landscape, but, judging by the borders, it is a French – if not Parisian – production of c.1460-1470. The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows: St Barbara f.14; Pentecost f.122v; Burial f.126.