Beschreibung:

MINIATURE BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Bruges, 1530-1535] 59 x 42mm. 216 leaves including a first blank endleaf and two final leaves ruled otherwise blank, mostly in gatherings of eight with 13 inserted singletons with miniatures, apparently COMPLETE, 15 lines written in black ink in a round gothic bookhand between two verticals and 16 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 38 x 25mm, rubrics of pink, one- and two-line initials of liquid gold on grounds alternately of blue, grey and red, four- to six-line initials of foliage or branches of liquid gold or white against coloured grounds flecked and framed with liquid gold, TWELVE CALENDAR MINIATURES of the occupations of the months, TWENTY-TWO FULL-PAGE MINIATURES in narrow frames most with spandrel brackets in the upper corners, TWENTY-THREE FULL-PAGE BORDERS of Ghent/Bruges type, many of strewn flowers on grounds of yellow or brown flecked with gold, and including birds or insects, others where the flowers are replaced with jewels, emblems, animals or figures (slight thumbing and darkening at edges, particularly affecting the Calendar, small pigment losses affecting the face of the Virgin in the Annunciation, the hair of God in the Coronation of the Virgin, the face of one of the angels in the Man of Sorrows, the mantle of the Virgin in the Virgin and Child, a small smudge to the face of the Virgin in St Anne with the Virgin and Child, a v-shaped loss from the border of f.94 the fragment surviving in the gutter). Spanish or Portuguese early 19th-century panelled red morocco with a double gilt fillet, gilt spine in four compartments tooled with a leaf spray, copper-gilt clasp and catch with crossed cross and anchor and a flaming heart, the symbols of the Theological Virtues. AN UNKNOWN WORK FROM BENING'S FINEST PERIOD: OF JEWEL-LIKE EXECUTION AND SIZE PROVENANCE: Like many of the most splendid 16th-century Flemish manuscripts this exquisite Book of Hours contains no certain evidence to indicate its early ownership. The sparse Calendar does, however, include in red the feast of Vincent of Saragossa (22 January), and the Litany has Berard and his associates among the martyrs, and Engratia of Saragossa as the final virgin. All three of these saints were venerated in Portugal, and it is possible that the manuscript went to, and remained in, that country for the binding seems most likely to be Portuguese or Spanish. It is clear from Damião de Goes' oft-quoted appraisal of Bening's work how high his reputation was in Portugal by 1530, and he is known to have undertaken several commissions for Portuguese royalty and members of their court. CONTENT: Calendar ff.2-8; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.10-114v: matins f.10, lauds f.37, prime f.54, terce f.62, sext f.69, none f.76, vespers f.83, compline f.94, variants f.101v; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.116-129v; Litany ff.129v-141v; Office of the Dead ff.143-175v; Prayers to Christ ff.177-194: Conditor celi et terre rex regum f.177, Salve sancta facies f.182, O dulcissime domine iesu f.f.185, O domine iesu xpe adoro te in cruce pendentem f.192; Obsecro te ff.195-199v; Suffrages ff.201-214v: to Sts Michael f.201, John the Baptist f.203, Peter f.205, James f.207, Christopher f.209, Anne f.212, Mary Magdalene f.214 ILLUMINATION: No renaissance illuminator had a higher reputation than Simon Bening -- 'the best master in the art of illumination in all of Europe' -- and the assessment of his contemporaries remains undisputed. By the 1530s -- the likely date of the present Hours -- he was patronised by princely patrons in Spain, Portugal and Germany as well as in his homeland. Later in the century his achievements were not only celebrated by compatriot historians, Denis Harduyn and Antonius Sanderus, but also by Guicciardini and Vasari. Simon was born around 1483, probably in Ghent, the son of the illuminator Sanders Bening (fl.1469, d.1519) and Kathelijn van der Goes, probably the sister