note (text)
Heures (Hours of Étienne Thirion; formerly the Champion‑Minard Hours)This Book of Hours for the Use of Rome was produced in Burgundy, likely Dijon. The manuscript appears to have been produced for Étienne Thirion, receiver of the estate of Montréal (Yonne), who inscribed the book on fol. 2r and is depicted in prayer on fol. 25v. Thirion's coat-of-arms is depicted three times in the book: alone (fol. 25v), hanging from a tree alongside that of his wife (which remains unidentified) on the armorial frontispiece (fol. 3r), and impaled with those of his wife (fol. 12r). The presence on fol. 3v of an almanac for twenty years beginning in 1518 suggests a date of production on or shortly before that year. The manuscript begins with a continuously-running calendar illustrated with zodiac and labor of the month vignettes (fols. 4r-11r). The Gospel Lessons and associated texts (fols. 12r-25v) are preceded by a full-page miniature in an all'antica frame showing the martyrdom of Saint John, the composition of which is based on Albrecht Dürer's Apocalypse woodcut print from 1511. Each of the subsequent Gospel Lessons as well as the Passion According to John, the Obsecro te, and the O intemerata begin with a small square miniature. Likewise included within this section, but unillustrated, are the Prayer of Saint Augustine and further prayers to the Virgin. The Hours of the Virgin (fols. 26r-59r), which is intercalated with the Hours of the Cross and Hours of the Holy Spirit, is introduced by a large miniature of the Annunciation in an all'antica frame, which is itself faced by a portrait of the book's owner at prayer on fol. 25v. The Visitation and Carrying of the Cross are depicted in full-width miniatures, while those for the other Hours consist of smaller, inset scenes. Some of the pages with smaller miniatures are surrounded by all'antica frames or fuller foliate frames. The Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Prayers (fols. 59v-67v) are introduced by a large miniature of King David surrounded by an all'antica frame, while the Office of the Dead (fols. 69r-84r) is preceded by an unusual full-page miniature showing a group of Franciscan (?) monks and nuns and a man and woman mourning a naked dead body laid on a table (fol. 68v). The unillustrated Suffrages are followed by prayers for everyday activities (fols. 84v-93v). The Hours of the Conception of the Virgin (fols. 94r-96v) begins with a small miniature of Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child in her womb. A separate section includes the Seven Prayers of Saint Gregory (fols. 97r-97v). Accessory texts (fols. 98r-105r) are introduced by a small miniature of the Virgin and Child in Glory, and include Prayers to the Virgin followed by Five Requests to God and three rhymed prayers in French. The final original section consists of Sayings of the Church Fathers and a Question and Answer about the Mass, in French (fols. 105v-106v). Finally, an added gathering in a different hand consists of Prayers for Confession and Communion in a different hand, in French (fols. 107r-111v). The miniatures are related in style to those found in the Hours of Bénigne Serre, another Burgundian official, dated to 1524 (Switzerland, Private Collection).
HORAE_1200pxmin (1815 mss)
Philadelphia_Philadelphia_Museum_of_Art_Department_of_Prints_Drawings_and_Photographs_19456514.tar.gz
