File:Book of Hours, Use of Paris (IA 1945 65 5).pdf

Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1945‑65‑5. Paris, France, Between 1405 and 1410. This Book of Hours for the Use of Paris, typical of luxury manuscripts created at the beginning of the fifteenth century, is richly illuminated with fourteen large miniatures and thirty-four small miniatures, as well as calendar vignettes and twenty-eight historiated and inhabited initials. The book begins with a calendar (pp. 1-24), in French, followed by Gospel Lessons (pp. 25-39), illustrated with miniatures of the Evangelists, and the Passion according to Saint John and to Saint Matthew (pp. 41-74, beginning and miniature for both sections lacking). The Hours of the Virgin (pp. 77-192) was planned with an extra page tipped-in to accommodate a large miniature (pp. 75-76), but this was never completed; the remaining miniatures from the Hours of the Virgin are intact. The Hours of the Cross (pp. 193-202), introduced by a miniature of the Crucifixion, is followed by the Hours of the Holy Spirit (pp. 203-210, miniature lacking). The Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Prayers (pp. 213-252) are introduced by a miniature of King David in Prayer. The Fifteen Joys of the Virgin and the Seven Requests to Our Lord follow (pp. 253-264), though each has lost its initial miniature. The Office of the Dead (pp. 265-347) begins with a miniature showing a Funeral Scene. The suffrages (pp. 349-426) are richly illustrated with small miniatures, beginning with The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Faithful, and include unusual saints such as Roman and Audoen (?), Nicasius and his companions, Leobinus, Giles, Erkenwald, Susanna, Avia and Austrebertha. The presence of Saint Erkenwald may indicate that the book was made for an English patron resident in Paris during the occupation. The suffrages are followed by a prayer to the Virgin in French (pp. 427-438). The book's most distinguishing feature are its set of twenty-four readings for Masses (pp. 439-566), each introduced by an inhabited or historiated initial. A portrait of the book's unidentified female owner, dressed in red, is included on p. 566. The Salve regina prayer, introduced by an inhabited initial of the Virgin and Child, is followed by prayers for the Elevation of the Host and Salutations (pp. 567-575). Another section of Marian and other prayers is introduced by an historiated initial showing the Virgin Mary weaving (pp. 576-582). The book is concluded by the Obsecro te and O intemerata (pp. 583-595), introduced by another inhabited initial of the Virgin and Child. Millard Meiss attributed the miniatures with diapered backgrounds in the Hours of the Virgin and the Crucifixion to the Circle of Jacquemart de Hesdin, and the more painterly miniatures found in the calendar (except for the retouched July), the four Evangelists, and everything after David at Prayer in the Penitential Psalms to the Atelier of the Bedford Master. The miniatures on pages 13, 171, 351, 378, and 424 have been retouched, perhaps while the volume was in the possession of Frédéric Spitzer. No earlier provenance for the manuscript is known.