The Hours of Vincent Lemercier, Use of Rouen, with miniatures showing scenes from Ovid's legends of the lovers 'Pyramus and Thisbe' and 'Orpheus and Eurydice', in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum

117 leaves (1 blank), 176mm. by 122mm., probably wanting eleven leaves, collation: i^{11, ii8, iii4, iv8, v6, vi7, vii-viii6, ix7, x-xi8, xii6, xiii10, xiv6, xv10, xvi6, written space 102mm. by 65mm., single column, 15 lines in black or brown ink in a good Gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, numerous one-line initials in gold on coloured grounds heightened with white penwork, numerous 2-line initials in blue with coloured organic infill on burnished gold grounds, two 4-line initials in same (fols. 17v & 20v; with some oxidisation), decorated border panels on almost all pages with coloured acanthus leaves and other foliage with fruit, birds, a life-like fly, and numerous drollery-creatures, some on parti-coloured dull gold grounds,} calendar with miniatures of the occupations and biblical scenes for each month (see below), two small miniatures in the bas-de-page (both of Virgin, fols. 17v and 20v), eight three-quarter arch-topped miniatures (each approximately 94mm. by 60mm.) with full border decoration and small miniatures in borders (fols. 24r, 45r, 50v, 53r, 64r, 82v, 86r, 113v, some with damage: see below), trimmed at top, initial leaves somewhat damaged and rubbed, some damage and small stains throughout, eighteenth-century calf over pasteboards, profusely gilt-tooled with the name 'VIN/CEN/CT' 'LE/MER/CIER' within laurel wreathes on front and back boards, surrounded by panels of fronds, coronets over hearts split by an arrow and fleurons, some minor wear at corners and where boards join the spine, gilt edges

provenance

1. Written and illuminated in Rouen c. 1480, for the woman who appears kneeling and holding a rosary in the margin of fol. 113v.

 

2. Acquired by Vincent Lemercier in the eighteenth century; his named binding.

 

3. E. B. Robertson, 17 Tredegar Place, Bow; inscription on front board in early twentieth century hand; and by descent to the present owner.

text

The text comprises a Calendar in French (fol. 1r, lacking December) with a number of Normandy saints, such as SS. Martial, first bishop of Limoges and patron saint of the town (30 June), Philibert of Jumièges (20 August), Austreberta of St. Omer (10 February), and some specifically from Rouen: Mellonus, first bishop of Rouen (22 October), and Romanus of Rouen (23 October); Gospel Sequences (fol. 13r); Obsecro te (fol. 17v); O intemerata (20v); Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol. 24r, wanting leaf at end), Lauds (fol. 33r, wanting beginning), Terce (fol. 50v), Sext (fol. 53r), None (fol. 58r, wanting beginning and end), Vespers (fol. 59r, wanting beginning and end), Compline (fol. 60r, wanting beginning); Penitential Psalms (fol. 64r); a Litany (fol. 75r); Hours of the Cross (fol. 80r, wanting beginning); Hours of the Holy Ghost (fol. 82v); Office of the Dead (fol. 86r); Quinze Joyes Nostre Dame (fol. 113v).

 

This manuscript was published in K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Western Australia, 1969, pp. 47-9, as in a private collection in Eastwood, New South Wales.

 

 

illumination

The illumination of this manuscript is by a follower of the Master of the Geneva Latini, now known as the Master of the Rouen Echevinage, and while it is clearly the work of a skilled Rouen workshop of c. 1480, aspects of the decoration are often highly individual. The presence of Biblical scenes in the Calendar is extremely rare, and so are the scenes drawn from Ovid's legends of Pyramus and Thisbe, and Orpheus and Eurydice in the small miniatures in the borders of fols. 50v and 64r. The border panels are also exceptionally varied in their form, enclosing a variety of shapes, styles of foliage and interlacing wreaths infilled with burnished gold, and much about this book suggests it may have been a highly personal commission for the young woman who appears in the border of fol. 113v.

 

The Calendar miniatures (each approximately 35mm. by 42mm.) include:

(1) January: folio 1r, A couple at a table in a Gothic interior (much damage), (2) 1v, the Baptism of Christ; (3) February: 2r, a bearded man warming his hands by a fire while another man brings wood and a woman stokes the embers, (4) 2v, Jonah, his hands clasped in prayer, emerging from the mouth of a whale (some minor scratching to head of whale); (5) March: 3r, two men and a woman tilling the fields (6) 3v, Abraham with his sword raised about to behead Isaac as God descends to hold back the sword (now much rubbed); (7) April: 4r, a man picking flowers and presenting them to a kneeling woman, (8) 4v, Noah's Ark (some rubbing); (9) May: 5r, miniature erased, (10) 5v, God creating Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; (11) June: 6r, two men and a woman with rakes and a scythe harvesting crops, (12) 6v, a saint before three women (one of woman's faces rubbed); (13) July: 7r, two men and a woman cutting the corn, (14) 7v, Daniel in the lion's den; (15) August: 8r, three men with sticks and a basket threshing, (16) 8v, the Assumption of the Virgin; (17) September: 9r, a man bathing in a large tub of water surrounded by attendants (some rubbing to lower part of miniature), (18) 9v, Christ before the money-lenders; (19) 10r, October: two men and a woman sowing seeds, many birds on the ground stealing seeds, (20) 10v, Moses and the Israelites on dry ground looking on as the Pharaoh and his army drown; (21) November: 11r, a man and a woman shaking acorns from the trees to feed the pigs below (some damage), (22) 11v, an erased miniature.

 

The remaining miniatures include:

(23) Folio 17v, small arch-topped miniature (32mm. by 42mm.) of the Virgin and Child standing within a mandorla and set in a blue sky.

 

(24) Folio 20v, small arch-topped miniature (35mm. by 40mm.) of the Virgin and Child seated within a Gothic interior.

 

(25) Folio 24r, Large arch-topped miniature (92mm. by 60mm.) enclosing the Annunciation to the Virgin, with her reading a finely bound book in her bower as an angel approaches holding a banderole "Ave Maria Plena, dominus tec[um]", and God appearing above. Full decorated border including three small miniatures: an arch-topped miniature (30mm. by 39mm.) enclosing the Assumption; a circular miniature (diameter 30mm.) enclosing Adam and Eve with the serpent; and in the bas-de-page an arch-topped miniature (32. by 40mm.) enclosing the marriage of Mary and Joseph. Some rubbing and minor damage to faces of the angel and God in the main miniature, and some of smaller miniatures.

 

(26) Folio 45r, Large arch-topped miniature (92mm. by 60mm.) enclosing the Nativity. Two smaller miniatures in border: circular miniature (diameter 30mm.) enclosing three shepherds; and an arch-topped miniature (40mm. by 42mm.) in the bas-de-page, enclosing the Emperor Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl. Some rubbing with very minor damage to miniatures.

 

(27) Folio 50v, Large arch-topped miniature (95mm. by 62mm.) enclosing the Adoration of the Magi. With two smaller miniatures in the border: a circular miniature (diameter 30mm.) enclosing the final part of the legend of Orpheus and the nymph Euridice from Ovid (42mm. by 40mm.) in the bas-de-page, in which these lovers are separated by death until Orpheus pleads with the God of the Underworld and secures her return as long as he could lead her out without looking back at her. At the very last moment he glanced back, and she was pulled back into the Underworld (here by a small devil emerging from a hellmouth). Some minor damage to faces in main miniature and rubbing to upper part of miniature in bas-de-page.

 

(28) Folio 53r, Large arch-topped miniature (95mm. by 62mm.) enclosing the Presentation in the Temple. Two smaller miniatures in the border: a circular miniature (diameter 32mm.) enclosing two shepherds coming to the Virgin and Child; and an arch-topped miniature (34mm. by 39mm.) in the bas-de-page enclosing a seated king (perhaps Herod) and a priest.

 

(29) Folio 64r, Large arch-topped miniature (98mm. by 62mm.) enclosing King David in prayer, his harp before him, as an angel descends. Two smaller miniatures in the border: a circular miniature (diameter 35mm.) enclosing David and Goliath; and an arch-topped miniature (39mm. by 34mm.) in the bas-de-page enclosing the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid: in which these two ill-fated lovers, kept apart by their families, agree to meet at night at a spring (here an ornamental fountain). Thisbe arrives first and is scared away by a lion who grabs and chews her veil which she drops as she flees (lion in background here chewing a medieval woman's headdress). Pyramus then arrives and thinking the lion has eaten his love, he draws his sword and kills himself (here he lies at her feet, his right glove beside him, and blood flowing from one of his wrists), and she returns and finding his body, kills herself by stabbing her own breast with his sword. Some minor paint flaking from clothing of man in smaller miniature.

 

(30) Folio 82v, Large arch-topped miniature (92mm. by 62mm.) enclosing Pentecost. Two smaller miniatures in border: a circular miniature (diameter 33mm.) of the three Marys meeting the angel at Christ's tomb; and an arch-topped miniature (33mm. by 35mm.) of the Resurrection. Some minor rubbing and smudging.

 

(31) Folio 86r, Large arch-topped miniature (92mm. by 62mm.) enclosing various monks with books seated around a corpse on a shroud. Two smaller miniatures: a circular miniature (diameter 34mm.) enclosing death (as a corpse with a spear) stalking a man and a woman; and an arch-topped miniature (33mm. by 40mm.) in the bas-de-page enclosing a burial. Some damage to miniatures, especially that in bas-de-page and much discolouration of page.

 

(32) Folio 113v, Large arch-topped miniature (97mm. by 62mm.) enclosing the Pietà. Two smaller miniatures in border: a circular miniature (diameter 34mm.) enclosing the original owner of the book kneeling in prayer with a rosary; and an arch-topped miniature (33mm. by 40mm.) in the bas-de-page enclosing the Noli me tangere. Some damage to the smaller miniatures.