Prayerbook, in Dutch [south-eastern Netherlands (perhaps Saint-Trond), c.1570-80]

c.135x95mm, vellum, ii+234+ii leaves, apparently COMPLETE but bound too tightly to collate, the rectos of most miniatures and a few other pages blank, 14 lines, c.90x55mm, one small historiated initial, THIRTY-FOUR FULL-PAGE MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS, FACING PAGES ALSO WITH FULL BORDERS, many with flowers, fruit, birds, insects, jewels, coral, etc., other borders WITH HIGHLY UNUSUAL SUBJECTS including putti dragging a large animal skull, a satyr with a lute, large herons, a stag-skin with the head and legs still attached, a caged lion, black-clad mourners, etc., ONE SMALLER MINIATURE to fill the space at the end of a prayer, generally in very fine condition throughout but with occasional cockling or light rubbing, finely bound in plain black morocco with gilt-tooled citron morocco doublures, gilt edges, signed by Trauz-Bauzonnet, in a fitted morocco slip-case

 

A RARE EXAMPLE OF A HIGH-RENAISSANCE PRAYERBOOK THAT WAS PROBABLY MADE IN SAINT-TROND, WRITTEN IN DUTCH AND RICHLY ILLUMINATED WITH MANY HIGHLY UNUSUAL MINIATURES AND BORDERS

PROVENANCE

(1) Probably commissioned by a woman, to judge by the images showing a laywoman at prayer and at confession, other images in which women take leading roles, and prayers probably intended for a female reader. (2) Raoul-Léonor L’Homme Dieu du Tranchant, COMTE DE LIGNEROLLES (1816–1893), bibliophile: his posthumous sale, Part I, Paris, 29 January 1894, lot 16. (3) ROBERT HOE III (1839–1909) of New York, author of books about printing and book-binding, first President of the Grolier Club: with his gilt red leather book-label; his sale by the Anderson Auction Company, New York, Part II, 15 January 1912, lot 2451 (inscribed ‘II #2451’ and ‘$500’, f.iir); by descent to the present owners.

TEXT AND ILLUMINATION

‘Een prologhe oft vermaninghe om wel ende profitelyck te bidden’ (f.2r); prayers on the Pater noster (f.10r), to God the Father (f.34r), God the Son (f.41r), and the Holy Spirit (f.50r), the Mother of God (f.54r), in the morning (f.68r), in the evening (f.74r), for benediction (f.81r), the Passion of Christ (f.91r), for forgiveness of sins (f.104r), another prayer on the same subject (f.110r), before confession (f.116r), after confession (f.120r), for the Holy Sacrament (f.124r), another prayer for the same (f.130r), after the Holy Sacrament (f.137r), another prayer for the same (f.144r), for the Holy Church (f.150r), for all states of Holy Churches (f.156r), for a friend (f.170r), for a young person (f.174r), for widows (f.179r), for the good people (f.184r), for pregnant women (f.188r), for infertile women (f.192r), for controlled love (f.197r), for prosperity (f.201r), adversity (f.205r), in temptation (f.209r), sickness (f.213r), a prayer 'teghen de vreese des doots' (f.217r), 'voer alle gheloonige sielen (f.223r), for God the Father (f.229r).

The subjects of the full-page miniatures are: (1) f.1v, The Agony in the Garden; (2) f.9v, The Sermon on the Mount; (3) f.33v, God the Father; (4) f.40v, Christ as the Man of Sorrows; (5) f.49v, Pentecost; (6) f.53v, Jesus Learning to Read with Mary; (7) f.67v, The Deposition; (8) f.73v, A woman praying at her bedside; (9) f.80v, An angel (Gabriel?); (10) f.90v, The Crucifixion; (11) f.103v, Mary Magdalene Drying Jesus’ Feet with her Hair; (12) f.109v, The Pharisee and the Publican; (13) f.115v, A woman with her confessor; (14) f.119v, The Woman Taken in Adultery; (15) f.123v, The Last Supper; (16) f.129v, The Miracle of Manna from Heaven; (17) f.136v, Melchizedek Offering Bread and Wine to Abraham; (18) f.143v, The Woman with the Issue of Blood; The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, in each case except the last the recipient is depicted as Christ: (19) f.149v, Giving Shelter to a Pilgrim; (20) f.155v, Giving Water to the Thirsty; (21) f.169v, Giving Food to the Hungry; (22) f.173v, Giving Clothes to the Unclothed; (23) f.178v, Giving a Ransom for a Captive; (24) f.183v, Visiting the Sick; (25) f.187v, Burying the Dead; (26) f.191v, The Meeting at the Golden Gate; (27) f.196v, Susannah and the Elders; (28) f.200v, Job Visited by his Wife; (29) f.204v, Jesus Asleep During the Tempest; (30) f.208v, John the Baptist, with caption ‘Patientia’; (31) f.212v, Trust, with caption ‘Vast betrauwen’; (32) f.216v, Woman and a skeleton, with caption ‘Constantia’; (33) f.222v, Three Skulls; (34) f.228v, God Taking Adam’s Rib. The small miniature shows Jesus and John the Baptist as children (f.5v). The historiated initial shows the Dove over an altar (f.50r).

STYLE

The style and some of the compositions are similar to those in two other prayerbooks that can be dated and localised to Saint-Trond in the 1570s (see J. van der Stock in Handschriften uit de Abdij van Sint-Truiden, exh. cat., Provinciaal Museum voor Religieuze Kunst St. Truiden, 1986, nos.29-30): One in The Hague has a calendar for the use of the abbey of Saint-Trond and also includes the rare miniature of Libertus; it was probably made for Librecht van Hulsberch or Schaloun, its Prior from 1566 (Royal Library, 75 A 2/4). The other manuscript in Liège (Bibl. gén. de l'Université, ms. 1096) was copied in 1578 by 'Libertus', Prior of Saint-Trond, himself: 'F. Libertus Monasterii S. Trudonis immeritus Prior me scripsit Anno 1578'. Another manuscript that includes his colophon is an Ordinarius Ceremoniarum for Saint-Trond also at the University library of Liège (ms. 311, see above, no.7). It is dated 1564 but includes prints instead of miniatures ('Frater Libertus ab Hulsberch adnominatus Schaloun me descripsit Anno 1564').  

The last documented Flemish illuminator to be known to work after Simon Bening's death in 1561 was Thomas Vanden Putten (1532-1608), who belonged to an influential bourgeois family from Saint-Trond and who also worked in Liège. Little is known about the manuscript production in Saint-Trond but it appears to have been a centre of very late Renaissance illumination.

As Jan van der Stock was able to show, many miniatures are derived from prints, notably the Man of Sorrows copying that of Dürer’s Small Passion series; the Calendar miniatures in the other manuscripts are based on the work of Virgil Solis, one of Nuremberg's most prolific printmakers and book illustrators; and some other miniatures relate to prints by Cornelis Matsys, a Flemish Renaissance painter and engraver (see J. van der Stock in Le Dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture, 1989, pp.91-98).