summary
Book of Hours (Rome)
leaf dimensions : height (mm)
97
leaf dimensions : width (mm)
66
justification : height (mm)
50
justification : width (mm)
27
condition
Some parts of text crossed out, especially at the end of the Hours of the Virgin.
note (deco)
15 full-page miniatures (three of them modern copies) within full illuminated floral borders facing pages with 6-line illuminated initials and similar illuminated borders, the miniatures showing the Crucifixion (fol. 13v, Matins of the Cross), Pentecost (fol. 23v, Matins of the Holy Ghost), the Virgin and Child with attendant angel (fol. 32v, Mass of the Virgin), the Annunciation, modern reproduction (fol. 46v, Matins), the Visitation (fol. 69v, Lauds), the Nativity (fol. 85v, Prime), the Annunciation to the Shepherds (fol. 92v, Terce), the Magi (fol. 99v, Sext), the Presentation in the Temple (fol. 104v, None), the Massacre of the Innocents (fol. 109v, Vespers), the Flight into Egypt (fol. 119v, Compline), the Coronation of the Virgin, modern reproduction (fol. 127vthe Advent office), the Assumption of the Virgin, modern reproduction (fol. 138v, Obsecro te), David in prayer (fol. 147v, Penitential Psalms) and a funeral service (fol. 172v, Office of the Dead).Headings in red; versal initials in alternating blue with red penwork and burnished gold with black penwork; 3-line initials in burnished gold on red and blue grounds with white tracery.
binding
Modern binding (brown velvet over pasteboards, gilt edges; in a paper case)
origDate : proposed date
c.1450-1475
origPlace : proposed origin
Bruges
note (history)
The pictures resemble those of the Bruges illuminator Willem Vrelant, which represents a prolific local style rather than the output of one artist or a single workshop (Bousmanne 1997). Features of the Vrelant style include distance in landscape measured by receding sizes of little round bushes and use of a deep metallic blue paint, especially for clothes. Like many Netherlandish artists, right through to the seventeenth century and later, Bruges illuminators transform even sacred scenes into homely and domestic settings. The miniature of the funeral service includes a hooded peasant with one leg, leaning on a wooden crutch. Other examples of this engaging detail, perhaps with an apotropaic function—here in the context of death—are described by Mellinkoff 2006.
provenance
1756 Ex libris Presbiteri Joseph Marie Sormani (inscription on flyleaf ); H. C. (Harley) Drayton (1901-1966), bought at Sotheby’s, 29 January 1951, lot 13; his sale, Sotheby’s, 12 December 1967, lot 63; re-sold at Christie’s, 28 June 1972, lot 8; Ruth E. Adomeit (1910-1996), bequeathed by her to the Lilly Library.
note (temp)
http://ds.lib.berkeley.edu/Adomeit21_40http://telma.irht.cnrs.fr/outils/luxury-bound/manuscrit3721/
