Death personified as a Skeleton in Prayer, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin [east-central France, Burgundy, c.1480-90]

single leaf, 117x76mm, vellum, with a miniature for the Office of the Dead, 19 lines, 74x44mm, upper and outer borders slightly cropped, coffin in lower margin rubbed, overall in good condition

This miniature shows a unique depiction of Death, a worm-eaten cadaver dressed in a luxurious fur-trimmed brocade mantle, kneeling in prayer before an open book in a palace. The image opens the Office of the Dead, a series of prayers to be said in anticipation of death or in remembrance of the dead. The iconography for the Office of the Dead is rich and varied. Common illustrations include the Last Judgement, Raising of Lazarus, Parable of Dives and Lazarus, Three Living and Three Dead, Job on the Dung Heap, and various types of Death Personified, often portrayed attacking unsuspecting people. The idea of picturing Death as a noble figure in prayer (imitating the portraits that were often included in tailor-made commissions) serves as a horrifying reminder of the universality of death and is directly aimed at the viewer. No other example is known to exist but a comparable thought motivated the shocking image of a dead woman gazing at her reflection in a hand mirror in Matteo da Milano’s superlative Hours of Dionora of Urbino (London, BL, Yates Thompson 7, f.174r; see M. Hofmann in Books of Hours Reconsidered, 2013, pp.309-20, esp.p.312, n.9, fig.3).

From the same manuscript as the following lot.