Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin [southern Netherlands (probably Bruges), c.1460-70]

190x135mm, vellum, v+108+v leaves, COMPLETE, collation: i6, ii-xii8, plus inserted single leaves for the full-page miniatures, 21 lines, 120x80mm, 14 FULL-PAGE MINIATURES with full borders, facing LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS with full borders, 21 SMALL MINIATURES with three-sided borders, small illuminated and flourished initials, illumination with small pigment losses, 17th(?)-century vellum with yapp fore-edges, the spine inscribed in ink ‘Missale Illumi[...]’

A RICHLY ILLUMINATED BOOK OF HOURS BY THE PROLIFIC MASTERS OF THE BEADY EYES

PROVENANCE

(1) Owned by the Dominicans of Louvain: inscribed ‘Ad usum F. Ioannis Rola, Dominicani Lovaniensis’ (f.3r). (2) Ownership inscriptions of Henri Charles de Bausele (d.1669), or his son of the same name (d.1709), (ff.1r, 2v, 3v, 68r; spelled ‘Baucele’ and with ‘Anno 1668’, f.1r). (3) Ink-stamp of the ‘Williams Library Cheltenham’ (f.1v) and with their(?) foliation record dated 1890 on a back flyleaf; the Library was dispersed in 1896. (4) With several dealer and other annotations on flyleaves, including one of Maggs Bros.

TEXT AND ILLUMINATION

Calendar (f.3r); Gospel extracts (f.9r); Hours of the Cross (f.13r); Hours of the Holy Spirit (f.17r); Mass of the Virgin (f.21r); very short versions of the prayers Obsecro te (f.23v) and O intemerata (f.25v); suffrages to saints (f.26v); Hours of the Virgin (f.35r); Penitential Psalms (f.78r), litany (f.84r); Office of the Dead (f.90r).

This manuscript was illuminated by the MASTERS OF THE BEADY EYES (Maitres aux Yeux-Bridés), named from their distinctive manner of delineating eyes with firm dark lines and a beady dot (L.M.J. Delaissé, La miniature flamande, 1959, pp.18, 30, 99). Their work relates to that of the earlier Masters of the Gold Scrolls, who dominated Bruges illumination towards the middle of the century. 

The subjects of the full-page miniatures are: (1) Crucifixion (f.12v); (2) Pentecost (f.16v); (3) Virgin and Child Enthroned (f.20v); (4) Annunciation (f.34v); (5) Visitation (f.44v); (6) Nativity (f.51v); (7) Annunciation to the Shepherds (f.54v); (8) Adoration of the Magi (f.57v); (9) Presentation in the Temple (f.60v); (10) Massacre of the Innocents (f.63v); (11) Flight into Egypt (f.68v); (12) Coronation of the Virgin (f.72v); (13) David in Penitence (f.77v); (14) Funeral Service (f.89v).

The subjects of the smaller miniatures are: (1) St John (f.9r); (2) St Luke (f.9v); (3) St Matthew (f.10v); (4) St Mark (f.11r); (5) Virgin and Child (f.23v); (6) Lamentation (f.25v); (7) John the Baptist (f.26v);  (8) St Peter (f.27r); (9) St Paul (f.27v); (10) John the Evangelist (f.28r); (11) St Andrew (f.28v); (12) St James (f.29r); (13) St Laurence (f.29v); (14) St Anthony Abbot (f.30r); (15) St Adrian (f.30v); (16) St Katherine (f.31r); (17) St Agatha (f.31v); (18) St Barbara (f.32r); (19) St Margaret (f.32v); (20) Mary Magdalene (f.33r); (21) St Anne with the Virgin and Christ-Child (f.33v).