Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

175 leaves (4 blank), 195mm. by 135mm., 2 leaves removed (presumably with large miniatures), else complete, collation: i^{12, ii-iii10, iv8 (iii a singleton and last leaf wanting), v-vii10, viii7 (i wanting), ix6, x-xii8, xiii12 (i and ii singletons), xiv8,  xv-xviii10, xix8 (including 4 blank endleaves), horizontal catchwords, written space 120mm. by 80mm., single column, ruled in pink ink for 17 lines, written in dark brown ink in an accomplished late Gothic bookhand, rubrics in pink, numerous 1-line initials in pink touched with white on orange-brown ground touched in liquid gold, numerous larger 2- or 3-line initials in same with stylised floral infill,} nine 4-line initials formed of pink or white acanthus-leaves enclosing single naturalistic flowers on liquid gold grounds (fols. 70v-82v), fourteen 6-line initials in various organic designs with acanthus leaves and infilled with naturalistic floral sprays all on liquid gold grounds, and with three-quarter border panels including highly stylised acanthus-leaves, other floral sprays, fruit, butterflies and insects, naturalistic birds including partridges peacocks and a cockerel, a rabbit, two monkeys apparently hunting flies (32r and 108r), three monkeys wearing hoods (23r, 38r and 49r), and a further monkey playing a harp (13r) (initials: 13r, 23r, 32r, 36r, 38r, 40r, 43r, 49r, 70r, 77r, 85r, 88v, 108r, 125r), seven 6-line miniatures accompanying the Hours of the Cross with three-quarter border panels containing small and delicate coloured acanthus-leaves touched in liquid gold terminating in fruit and bezants, with birds and two small dragons among the foliage on fol. 65v (65v, 66v, 67r, 67v, 68rv, 69r), one full-page arch-topped miniature of the Visitation (see below) with a full decorated border filled with highly stylised acanthus-leaves, naturalistic flowers, two monkeys, four birds and a number of insects, all on liquid gold ground, some negligible flaking to a few areas of decoration, otherwise in outstanding condition on fine and good quality vellum with clean and wide borders, pale blue silk doublures, seventeenth- or eighteenth-century red velvet covered pasteboards in a 'cut-out' design, with elaborate embroidery in plaited gold thread and blue, red and green threads, perhaps restored in nineteenth or twentieth century with addition of black velvet underlay, in fitted case

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
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text

The volume includes a calendar (fols. 1r-12v); the Hours of the Virgin: with Matins (13v), Lauds (23r), Prime (33r), Terce (35r), Sext (38r), Nones (40r), Vespers (43r), Compline (49r); the Hours of the Cross (65v); the Hours of the Holy Spirit (70r); the prayers Obsecro te  and O intemerata (85r); the Stabat mater (90v); Suffrages of the saints (92v); Seven Penitential Psalms (103r); a Litany (110r); and the Office of the Dead (119r).

The book is a bewildering mixture of styles: the script and illumination are clearly Spanish, and yet the calendar includes no obvious Spanish saints - if anything the saints appear to localise the work to mid-western Italy (SS. Saba of Rome, 11 December; Herculanus of Perugia, 1 March; Symphorosa of Rome, 18 July; Bishop Cerbonius of Tuscany, 10 October; but note also the presence of an English saint Gilbert of Sempringham, 4 February). It is most probably a highly personal composition, and perhaps we might conclude that its patron was involved in the Italian Wars (1494-1559) or the Spanish administrations in the kingdoms of Naples, Apulia and Calabria, in a role which brought them into contact with the regions concerned, and that they commissioned the volume upon their return to Spain.

illumination

The miniatures are by an accomplished artist, and in excellent condition. The details are sharp and features such as flesh-tones and the rugged angular drapery in the smaller miniatures are conveyed well. The use of liquid gold in the large miniature is worth individual note; the artist predominately uses it on the robes and haloes of the two central figures, but it is also used to highlight the entire surrounding scene, so that when the book is turned to the light the Virgin and St. Elizabeth suddenly become a focal point of illumination in the scene with their surroundings appearing to echo this while leading away from them.

The subjects of the miniatures are:

1. Folio 22v, full-page miniature of the Visitation (130mm. by 78mm.), with the Virgin and St. Elizabeth in the foreground with liquid gold haloes and dressed in robes touched with liquid gold paint, set in a grassy landscape before a lake and a splendid late Gothic building with a turret, with liquid gold used to highlight individual blades of grass, the roof, windows and floor tiles of the building, a tree, a boat in the lake, and the clouds in the sky; all enclosed within a three-dimensional 'cut-out' frame giving the viewer the impression of looking through a window at the scene; full decorated border with acanthus-leaves, flowers, insects, birds and monkeys.

2. Folio 65v, small miniature of the Garden of Gethsemane and the kiss of Judas (45mm. by 40mm.), with on the left of the scene: Christ kneeling in prayer before a golden chalice and three disciples asleep beneath him (all with liquid gold haloes), and to the right: Christ seized by a soldiers in armour as Judas kisses his cheek, three-quarter decorated border panel with scrolling coloured acanthus-leaves touched in liquid gold terminating in fruit and bezants, with birds and two small dragons among the foliage, all enclosed by blue and gold lines.

3. Folio 66v, small miniature of Christ before Pontius Pilate (45mm. by 45mm.), with Pilate wearing blue robes edged with ermine, seated before Christ whose hands are bound, and two attendants, with three-quarter decorated border panel with scrolling coloured acanthus-leaves touched in liquid gold terminating in fruit and bezants, all enclosed by blue and gold lines.

4. Folio 67r, small miniature of the Scourging of Christ (45mm. by 45mm.), with Christ bound and seated in the centre of the scene, an attendant either side of him, each using tongs to place the crown of thorns on his head, with three-quarter decorated border panel as above.

5. Folio 67v, small miniature of the nailing of Christ to the Cross (45mm. by 42mm.), Christ lying on the Cross on the ground in the centre of the scene with one man with an adze next to him making final adjustments to the cross, and another nailing his hands to it, with three-quarter decorated border panel as above.

6. Folio 68r, small miniature of Christ on the Cross (45mm. by 45mm.), with Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea in attendance, set in a grassy rolling landscape with trees and a town in distance, with three-quarter decorated border panel as above.

7. Folio 68v, small miniature of Christ's deposition from the Cross (45mm. by 45mm.), with Mary and Joseph lifting Christ's body from the Cross, another man stands in attendance holding a ladder, with three-quarter decorated border panel as above.

8. Folio 69r, small miniature of the laying of Christ's body in a stone sarcophagus (45mm. by 45mm.), Christ lying in the sarcophagus with his head on a blue cushion with gold fleur-de-lys on it, five attendants stand in sorrow (one with some flaking of paint from face) as a bearded man wraps Christ's body in a white cloth, with three-quarter decorated border panel as above.