Book of Hours, Use of Tours, in Latin and French [France (Tours), c.1475-80]

110×75mm, vellum, i+138+i, complete, 17 quires of 8 leaves except i12, viii6, catchwords, 17 lines, 66×41mm (70×41mm in quire 14, ff.107-114), 13 LARGE MINIATURES with full borders, small illuminated initials and line-fillers; some borders slightly cropped and rubbed, some pigment-loss, minimal retouching to some miniatures, diagonal crease affecting ff.122-26; 16TH-CENTURY CALF BINDING, tooled in gilt with a central arabesque interlace design, using two shades of brown, edges gilt, vestiges of two ties, upper joint cracking

A BOOK OF HOURS IN THE TRADITION OF JEAN FOUQUET, AND PROBABLY AN EARLY WORK OF JEAN BOURDICHON, COURT PAINTER UNDER FOUR SUCCESSIVE FRENCH KINGS, LOUIS XI, CHARLES VIII, LOUIS XII, AND FRANÇOIS I

provenance

(1) Written for a patron in the city or diocese of Tours, possibly named Sébastien: the suffrages includes Sts Gatian and Lidorius of Tours, and Saturninus; the litany also has Saturninus followed by Julian (of whom Tours cathedral had relics of both); the patron is likely to have had a special devotion to St Sebastian, to whom there are two suffrages, one of which is the only prayer with a miniature (f.126v).

(2)  Erased name, perhaps 'Anne Labise' (f.61v).

(3) 16th-century French owner, perhaps named Jean: addition of a shield with the letters 'I M' joined by a knot (f.72r), and a small image of the Agnus Dei, symbol of John the Baptist to the border (f.126v).

(4)  Late 18th- or early 19th-century English owner(s): inscribed with four price-codes, each beginning with a '£' sign (upper pastedown), also inscribed 'No 5', very like such numbers written by Alfred J. Horwood (1821-81).

text and illumination

Calendar in French (f.1r); Hours of the Virgin, Use of Tours, with Matins (f.13r), Lauds (f.23v), the Hours of the Cross (f.34r) and of the Holy Spirit intermixed (f.35v), Prime (f.37r), Terce (f.43r), Sext (f.47r), None (f.51r), Vespers (f.55r), Compline (f.62r); Gospel extracts (f.67r); Penitential Psalms (f.72r), litany (f.84r), petitions, and 2 collects; Office of the Dead, Use of Rome (f.89r); suffrages to saints (f.122r); prayer to the Virgin (f.124r); suffrages to saints (f.126v); prayers and a devotion to the Sacrament (f.135r).

The miniatures in this Book of Hours use a classical iconography drawn largely from the tradition of the small Books of Hours ascribed to Fouquet’s workshop, but the approach reveals a certain independence from these models. Bourdichon’s work can generally be distinguished from that of Fouquet’s direct followers by larger, more rounded figures and a taste for generous goldwork. He also promoted most effectively a technique called 'dramatic close-up', showing figures in half-length (see here the powerful miniature of King David). Other Book of Hours attributed to the young Bourdichon are the Katherine Hours (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, MS 6) and somewhat hesitantly two others also in public collections (Frankfurt a.M., Mus. Ksthandwk., L.M.48 and Vienna, ÖNB, Ser.nov.13247; see F. Avril in Jean Fouquet, exh.cat., 2003, nos.47-8). The Bourbon-Vendôme Hours (Paris, Bib. Arsenal, ms.417), published by Emile Mâle as an early work by Bourdichon (see Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1904, pp.441-53), are now regarded as the work of the Master of the Munich Boccaccio and the Master of the Bourbon-Hours, although Bourdichon participated to some minor degree (see Avril 2003, op.cit., no.39).

The subjects of the miniatures are: (1) f.13r, Annunciation, in a Renaissance loggia; (2) f.23v, Visitation; (3) f.34r, Crucifixion; (4) f.35v, Pentecost; (5) f.37r, Nativity; (6) f.43r, Annunciation to two Shepherds; (7) f.47r, Adoration of the Magi; (8) f.51r, Presentation in the Temple; (9) f.55r, Flight into Egypt; (10) f.62r, Coronation of the Virgin; the base of the throne inscribed with cryptic lettering; (11) f.72r, David harping; (12) f.89r, Job on the Dunghill; (13) f.126v, Martyrdom of St Sebastian; the lower outer border with an added Lamb of God, symbol of John the Baptist.