File:Book of Hours, Use of Chartres (IA 1949 83 1).pdf

Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1949‑83‑1. Tours?, France, Circa 1500. This Book of Hours for the Use of Chartres was made in the Loire Valley (perhaps Tours, as indicated by the miniatures in the style of Jean Bourdichon) around 1500. The presence of saints local to Chartres (e.g. Cheron, Aignan, and Lubin) in the calendar, along with the dedication of Notre Dame de Chartres on 17 October, suggests intended use in that city, while the distinctive style of the miniatures indicates production in the Loire Valley. It contains a calendar in French, lacking August and December (between fols. 7-8 and 10-11); the Hours of the Cross, lacking its ending (fol. 11v); the Hours of the Virgin, lacking its beginning and at least five other folios presumably excised for their miniatures (fols. 12r-49v); the Penitential Psalms followed by the Litany and associated prayers (fols. 50v-61v); Gospel Lessons from John only (fols. 62r-64v); and the Office for the Dead (fols. 65r-85v). The large bas-de-page vignettes with the Labours of the Months appear to have been inserted in preference to the small miniatures of the same subjects originally planned for frames within the panel borders on each verso within the calendar. In addition to those ten, the manuscript contains seven other miniatures which show the Crucifixion (fol. 11r), Pentecost (fol. 25r), the Nativity (fol. 26r), the Annunciation to the Shepherds (fol. 31r), the Coronation of the Virgin (fol. 45r), King David Praying (fol. 50r), and a funeral scene (fol. 65r). Leaves have been excised from between folios 11-12, 18-19, 34-35, 37-38, and 40-41. These were undoubtedly decorated with large or full-page miniatures for each of the Hours of the Virgin, and likely showed the Annunciation, Visitation, and the Adoration of the Magi among other subjects.