Beschreibung:

Capital, power, religion and art in 15th-c. Europe [Book of Hours - Flanders] Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin. [Southern Low Countries (Ghent? Brussels?), c. 1460/Sm. 4to (x mm): [lvs, vellum, (part. modern foliation in pencil, sl. soiled in some parts, light marg. spotting, 1 marg. tear without any loss f. sm. paint losses to some miniatures, devils part. erased f. and drapery added to nudes f. v.). 17th-c. red morocco Italian gold-tooled binding with coat of arms and the name of Don Pedro de Aragon on both covers, spine with 4 raised bands, gilt edges, in green cloth box (large mod. restoration at spine, sl. rubbed). Content/Text: (Calendar (with vignettes); (Hours of the Cross (6 miniatures); (Hours of the Holy Spirit (7 min.); (Mass of the Virgin (1 min.); (Office of the Virgin; (6-Gospels extracts of St. John, St. Luke, St. Mathew and St. Mark (each with 1 min.); (Office of the Dead (1 min.); (prayer "Ad Matutinum invitatorium Deum Verum"; (Seven Penitential Psalms (1 min.); (Litany of the Saints; (Antiphones (2 min.). Text in "littera textualis" on lines a page (writing area x mm). One- and two-line initials and line endings in red and blue with burnished gold. At the end, 1 leaf with a religious Latin text in a microscopic handwriting (1 page), and lvs with Italian and Latin prayers by a late 15th or a 16th-c. hand. Illumination: vignettes with 2 compartiments each, at the top of each calendar leaf (x mm) depicting the activity of the month and the corresponding sign of the Zodiac. - top arched miniatures (half-page (x mm) above 6 lines of text with large initials, and 5 full-page (x mm)) in full borders (x mm) figuring: (Christ before Pilate, the Flagellation, Christ Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion, Deposition, Entombment (min. 1-6); (The comissionner kneeling before the Holy Trinity, "Consilium" (2 men consulting a third), "Sciencia" (3 men, one pointing at a star), "Fortitudo" (David and Goliath), Understanding (a man playing an organ; text part. erased), Fear of the Lord (a man and the Dead in a boat with devils in the sky, text part. erased), "[...] Misericordie" (a man kneeling for execution, text part. erased) (min. 7-13); (Visitation (min. 14); (6-St. John, St. Luke, St. Matthew, St. Mark (min. 15-18); (Office of the Dead (min. 19); (Last Judgement (min. 20); (St. Basilissa and St. Catherine of Siena (min. 21-22). - leaves with large historiated initials (6 lines) in large full borders (x mm) figuring the Holy Trinity, Sts Michael, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, Mary Magdalen, Christopher, Gregory, Anthony Abott, Sebastian, Francis, Bernardino and Ursula. - leaves with full luxuriant borders (x mm) and text on lines, large painted initials (6 lines) with burnished gold. Leaves and with coat of arms of the Piemontese noble family Romagnano (azur, a bend d'argent between two bendlets or) integrated into the initials; the same on f. but here, at the bottom of the page, with the family's motto "EN UN" enclosed by pine branches with pine cones. - In all, leaves with painted borders and/or miniatures. Decoration: borders abundantly decorated with acanthus, flowers and fruit in vivid colours, inhabited by human figures and fantastic creatures in curious poses or activities, some nude, grotesques, birds and beasts, interspersed with burnished gold dots. Localisation and use: Southern Low Countries, possibly Brussels or Ghent (Sts Amalberga on July and Macarius on May). Prayers are in the male form and, from a devotional point of view, there is a special interest in Franciscan saints namely Francis from Assisi, his sister Clara and Bernardino of Siena (canonised 1450). Origin: The illuminations can be attributed to the "Master of Johannes Gielemans" as named by Otto Pächt, Dagmar Thoss and James Marrow for having illustrated the "Horologium Brabantiarum" (between and 1487), a collection of hagiographies of Brabantine saints by the Augustine canon Joannes Gielemans (c. 1427-from the priory of Rubea Vallis (Rook