Anonymous Breton artists
Anonymous Breton artists
Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northwestern France, c.1440]
A charming Book of Hours with exuberant and individual border decoration, painted in northwestern France by artists influenced by the earlier work of the Boucicaut, Rohan and Munich Golden Legend Masters.
210 x 162mm. i + 204 + i leaves, collation: 1-26, 3-48, 52, 6-108, 117 (of 8, lacking viii), 12-168, 176, 188, 199 (of 10, i a cancelled blank), 20-278, 281; 15 lines, ruled space: 103 x 67mm, illuminated initials throughout, every page of text with borders of ivyleaf sprays, flowers, berries and acanthus, 18 large miniatures within arch-topped gold frames with full, often inhabited borders (lacking one leaf with the miniature opening sext). 16th-century French dark brown calf gilt (top and bottom of spine expertly repaired). Beige quarter-morocco box, gilt title on spine.
Content:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff.13-19v; Passion according to John ff.20-22; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.22v-30v; Office of the Virgin, use of Paris, ff.31-99v: matins f.31, lauds f.54v, prime f.66, terce f.72v, sext f.77, none f.81v, vespers f.86, compline f.93v; Salve regina f.100v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.101-122v; Hours of the Cross ff.123-131v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.132-139; Office of the Dead, use of Paris, ff.140-187; Fifteen Joys of the Virgin ff.188-193v; Seven Requests of Our Lord, prayers and suffrages ff.194-203v.
The final two pages of the manuscript (f.204) are unusual: the first contains a medieval ‘parlour game’ for which one has to memorise 7 key words in which the same 3 vowels appear in different order; the second gives precise instructions on how to weave a double thickness of tapestry with only three strands.
Illumination:
The border decoration, with its pastel tones of blue, green, pink and red and its intricate scrolling acanthus motifs is characteristic of western France. John Plummer points out that the arrangements and motifs are similar – and often identical – to those found on four leaves from a Book of Hours depicting the Evangelists, from the Lessing J. Rosenwald collection in Washington (National Gallery of Art, 1946.11.5-8), those of lot 5 and Morgan Library MS M.157. The border surrounding the Coronation (f.86) is almost identical to the border surrounding the Virgin and Child in an enclosed garden in lot 5, down to the perching owl and looping acanthus enclosing berries in this manuscript, and a blank coat of arms in the other – and also very similar to several of the borders in Morgan 157. The border surrounding the Annunciation (f.31), with its three V-shaped acanthus branches down the right-hand margin is particularly close to the border surrounding David in Prayer in Morgan 157. Plummer posits that the borders of these three Hours are often so similar – ‘flower for flower, bird for bird, monkey for monkey’ – that they must have been copied from a common model, and therefore that they must all have emerged from the same workshop or been painted by the same illuminator.
Although the borders may well have been the product of the same workshop or the same hand, the miniaturists – albeit stylistically related – are not the same as those of the abovementioned manuscripts. The style of the main artist derives from the work of a number of earlier illuminators such as the Boucicaut Master, the Rohan Master and the Master of the Munich Golden Legend. Plummer notes how the composition of the Annunciation miniature (f.31), though simplified, recalls the same scene painted by the Rohan Master in the Hours of René d’Anjou (Paris, BnF, lat.1156A). At the same time, the illuminator shows an engaging degree of individuality in his interpretation of some of the compositions: John the Evangelist is pictured blowing the nib of his quill; the Flight into Egypt is unusually depicted as a Rest on the Flight into Egypt, with Joseph taking a swig from his cask, while the donkey drinks from a stream and the Virgin suckles the Child.
The artist of the Betrayal miniature uses a much darker, more intense palette and has been linked by Plummer to the illuminator responsible for the frontispiece of the third volume of the Chroniques de Jean Froissart in Paris (BnF, NAF 96404-9606), a collaboration between the Jouvenel Master and the Master of the Missal of Jean Michel (Angers, AD 49, J[001] 4138). Evident here is the influence of the Master of Marguerite d’Orléans in his late phase.
The subjects of the large miniatures are as follow: St John f.13; St Luke f.14v; St Matthew f.16v; St Mark f.18v; Annunciation f.31; Visitation f.54v; Nativity f.66; Annunciation to the Shepherds f.72v; Presentation in the Temple f.81v; Coronation of the Virgin f.86; Flight into Egypt f.93v; David in prayer f.101; Betrayal of Christ f.123; Trinity f.132; Funeral service f.140; Virgin and Child in the garden with Angels f.188; Last Judgement f.194.
Provenance
(1) The style and features of the text, including the presence of Osmanna in the litany, and similarities to other Rosenberg manuscripts (lots 3 and 5) suggests manufacture in northwestern France, but the liturgical use indicates the patron was Parisian. An erased coat of arms appears on f.31 below the miniature with the Annunciation.
(2) Grace Barnes of Redland Hall, Bristol, widow of William Barnes, esq.: pencil inscription on inside upper cover: ‘The Hon. George E. A. Monckton presented to him by Mrs Barnes of Redland Hall’.
(3) George Edward Arundell Monckton-Arundell, 6th Viscount Galway (1805-1876).
(4) Sir Francis Powell, 1st Bart., Horton Old Hall, Bradford (1827-1911), Conservative politician and President of the Royal Statistical Society: sold at Sotheby’s, 20th December 1929, lot 840.
(5) 'The Property of a Gentleman', sold at Sotheby’s, 11 December 1956, lot 5,bought by Sawyer for £1,000.
(6) Christie’s, 8 December 1958, lot 192 (the previous lot was the Llangattock Hours), to Maggs, their cat. no 861: Rare books and manuscripts: a selection of important items from various departments, (1959), no 65, with ills. of 8 miniatures, priced £1,450.
(7) H.P. Kraus, New York, sold to Alexandre Rosenberg on 25 October 1979 for $85,000.
(8) Rosenberg Ms 2.
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Anonymous Breton artists
Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northwestern France, c.1440]
A charming Book of Hours with exuberant and individual border decoration, painted in northwestern France by artists influenced by the earlier work of the Boucicaut, Rohan and Munich Golden Legend Masters.
210 x 162mm. i + 204 + i leaves, collation: 1-26, 3-48, 52, 6-108, 117 (of 8, lacking viii), 12-168, 176, 188, 199 (of 10, i a cancelled blank), 20-278, 281; 15 lines, ruled space: 103 x 67mm, illuminated initials throughout, every page of text with borders of ivyleaf sprays, flowers, berries and acanthus, 18 large miniatures within arch-topped gold frames with full, often inhabited borders (lacking one leaf with the miniature opening sext). 16th-century French dark brown calf gilt (top and bottom of spine expertly repaired). Beige quarter-morocco box, gilt title on spine.
Content:
Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff.13-19v; Passion according to John ff.20-22; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.22v-30v; Office of the Virgin, use of Paris, ff.31-99v: matins f.31, lauds f.54v, prime f.66, terce f.72v, sext f.77, none f.81v, vespers f.86, compline f.93v; Salve regina f.100v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.101-122v; Hours of the Cross ff.123-131v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.132-139; Office of the Dead, use of Paris, ff.140-187; Fifteen Joys of the Virgin ff.188-193v; Seven Requests of Our Lord, prayers and suffrages ff.194-203v.
The final two pages of the manuscript (f.204) are unusual: the first contains a medieval ‘parlour game’ for which one has to memorise 7 key words in which the same 3 vowels appear in different order; the second gives precise instructions on how to weave a double thickness of tapestry with only three strands.
Illumination:
The border decoration, with its pastel tones of blue, green, pink and red and its intricate scrolling acanthus motifs is characteristic of western France. John Plummer points out that the arrangements and motifs are similar – and often identical – to those found on four leaves from a Book of Hours depicting the Evangelists, from the Lessing J. Rosenwald collection in Washington (National Gallery of Art, 1946.11.5-8), those of lot 5 and Morgan Library MS M.157. The border surrounding the Coronation (f.86) is almost identical to the border surrounding the Virgin and Child in an enclosed garden in lot 5, down to the perching owl and looping acanthus enclosing berries in this manuscript, and a blank coat of arms in the other – and also very similar to several of the borders in Morgan 157. The border surrounding the Annunciation (f.31), with its three V-shaped acanthus branches down the right-hand margin is particularly close to the border surrounding David in Prayer in Morgan 157. Plummer posits that the borders of these three Hours are often so similar – ‘flower for flower, bird for bird, monkey for monkey’ – that they must have been copied from a common model, and therefore that they must all have emerged from the same workshop or been painted by the same illuminator.
Although the borders may well have been the product of the same workshop or the same hand, the miniaturists – albeit stylistically related – are not the same as those of the abovementioned manuscripts. The style of the main artist derives from the work of a number of earlier illuminators such as the Boucicaut Master, the Rohan Master and the Master of the Munich Golden Legend. Plummer notes how the composition of the Annunciation miniature (f.31), though simplified, recalls the same scene painted by the Rohan Master in the Hours of René d’Anjou (Paris, BnF, lat.1156A). At the same time, the illuminator shows an engaging degree of individuality in his interpretation of some of the compositions: John the Evangelist is pictured blowing the nib of his quill; the Flight into Egypt is unusually depicted as a Rest on the Flight into Egypt, with Joseph taking a swig from his cask, while the donkey drinks from a stream and the Virgin suckles the Child.
The artist of the Betrayal miniature uses a much darker, more intense palette and has been linked by Plummer to the illuminator responsible for the frontispiece of the third volume of the Chroniques de Jean Froissart in Paris (BnF, NAF 96404-9606), a collaboration between the Jouvenel Master and the Master of the Missal of Jean Michel (Angers, AD 49, J[001] 4138). Evident here is the influence of the Master of Marguerite d’Orléans in his late phase.
The subjects of the large miniatures are as follow: St John f.13; St Luke f.14v; St Matthew f.16v; St Mark f.18v; Annunciation f.31; Visitation f.54v; Nativity f.66; Annunciation to the Shepherds f.72v; Presentation in the Temple f.81v; Coronation of the Virgin f.86; Flight into Egypt f.93v; David in prayer f.101; Betrayal of Christ f.123; Trinity f.132; Funeral service f.140; Virgin and Child in the garden with Angels f.188; Last Judgement f.194.
Provenance
(1) The style and features of the text, including the presence of Osmanna in the litany, and similarities to other Rosenberg manuscripts (lots 3 and 5) suggests manufacture in northwestern France, but the liturgical use indicates the patron was Parisian. An erased coat of arms appears on f.31 below the miniature with the Annunciation.
(2) Grace Barnes of Redland Hall, Bristol, widow of William Barnes, esq.: pencil inscription on inside upper cover: ‘The Hon. George E. A. Monckton presented to him by Mrs Barnes of Redland Hall’.
(3) George Edward Arundell Monckton-Arundell, 6th Viscount Galway (1805-1876).
(4) Sir Francis Powell, 1st Bart., Horton Old Hall, Bradford (1827-1911), Conservative politician and President of the Royal Statistical Society: sold at Sotheby’s, 20th December 1929, lot 840.
(5) 'The Property of a Gentleman', sold at Sotheby’s, 11 December 1956, lot 5,bought by Sawyer for £1,000.
(6) Christie’s, 8 December 1958, lot 192 (the previous lot was the Llangattock Hours), to Maggs, their cat. no 861: Rare books and manuscripts: a selection of important items from various departments, (1959), no 65, with ills. of 8 miniatures, priced £1,450.
(7) H.P. Kraus, New York, sold to Alexandre Rosenberg on 25 October 1979 for $85,000.
(8) Rosenberg Ms 2.
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