Beschreibung:

Details
Anonymous Rouennais artist
Book of Hours, use of Orléans, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Rouen, 1490s]
An appealing Rouennais workshop production of the late 15th century, painted by the same anonymous artist responsible for a Book of Hours at the Rhode Island School of Design.
190 x 135mm. i + 91 + i leaves, complete, collation: 13(of 4, i a cancelled blank), 2-128, modern pencil foliation in 10s, 24 lines, ruled space: 126 x 75mm, rubrics in red, line fillers and one- to two-line illuminated initials in red, blue and liquid gold throughout, five four-line illuminated initials in red, blue and liquid gold to mark the Hours not supplied with miniatures, the outer edge of every text page with panel borders of acanthus, flowers and grapes in compartments alternately on gold grounds, one small (10-line) miniature, 8 large arch-topped miniatures above three-line initials all within full borders of acanthus and flowers in compartments on grounds alternating blue, red and gold (first gathering loose in binding, f.4r with remnants of glue at gutters not affecting the miniature, marginal thumbing and occasional faint staining). Old red velvet, edges gilt (the velvet rubbed and worn at edges). 20th-century gilt morocco box.
Provenance:
(1) While the liturgical use is for Orléans, the production of these Hours can be localised to Rouen on the basis of their illumination. In the 15th century, enterprising booksellers in the Norman city were at the centre of a flourishing book trade, fulfilling commissions in the city and further afield.
(2) A. Castagnari, Rome; according to De Ricci, sold in 1926 to –
(3) Joseph W. Bray of St. Louis, Missouri (d.1931).
(4) A.C. Gissing; sold at Sotheby’s, 12 May 1949, lot 395.
(5) Purchased from Sam Fogg in the 1990s.
Content:
Calendar, in French ff.1-3; Gospel Sequences ff.4-9; O intemerata ff.9v-10v; Ave domina sancta maria mater dei regina celi et porta, indulgence prayer attributed to Pope Sixtus IV ff.10v-11; Ave maria ancilla trinitatis, attributed to St Bernard f.11; Passion according to St John ff.11v-17; prayer on the Passion, Deus qui manus tuas ff.17-17v; Stabat mater and Marian devotions ff.17v-19; Hours of the Virgin, use of Orléans, with abbreviated Hours of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit intermixed ff.20-51v: matins f.20, lauds f.26, matins of the Cross f.31v, matins of the Holy Spirit f.32v, prime f.33, terce f.36v, sext f.39, none f.41v, vespers f.43v, compline f.49 [incorrectly rubricated as vespers]; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.52-62; Office of the Dead, use of Orléans ff.62v-85v; Suffrages ff.85v-91; Marian devotion, in the hand of a second scribe f.91v.
Illumination:
The quadripartite Evangelist miniature opening these Hours localises their production to Rouen – this compositional device reappears across Book of Hours emanating from workshops in the city in the 1470s-1490s (see Rowan Watson, The Playfair Hours, 1984, for a discussion of a related group of Rouen manuscripts from this period, including the Playfair Hours). Our manuscript was painted during a moment of transition in Rouen illumination, as Robert Boyvin (active c.1485-1515) emerged from the shadow of his predecessor, the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen (active c.1465-1485), to become the leading illuminator in the Norman city. Boyvin painted more than fifty manuscripts across his long and successful career, mostly Books of Hours, and his style proved enormously influential on the Rouennais workshops (see I. Delauney, 'Le manuscrit enluminé à Rouen au temps du cardinal Georges d'Amboise: l'oeuvre de Robert Boyvin et de Jean Serpin', Annales de Normandie, 3 (1995), pp.211-244).
Comparison of the present Hours with manuscripts painted by Boyvin before the turn of the 16th century (see Christie’s, 13 July 2022, lot 34 or Morgan Library MS M.261) reveals the same rejection of the geometric compositions associated with the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen in favour of taller, leaner figures with little modelling set in more spacious surroundings, characters with rather long and triangular noses, the men with narrow chins and the women porcelain complexions. Boyvin’s early oeuvre often features interior scenes composed of grey walls and small windows, but our master chooses not to emulate these, preferring instead compositions in which architectural elements are pared back to leave great swathes of landscape visible in the background, as in the Annunciation (f.20) or the Nativity (f.33). He demonstrates his narrative flair in the miniature of Bathsheba bathing at the opening of the Seven Penitential Psalms (f.52); inspired to look beyond Boyvin’s models, our artist presents a busy composition full of detail to engage the viewer, incorporating an ornate bath and fountain, a servant proffering a platter of red fruit, multiple towers adjoining David’s rooms above and gabled rooves beyond.
Our master also painted another Book of Hours, use of Rouen, now among the collections of the Rhode Island School of Design (2011.30); he employs the same designs for compositions including the Annunciation, the Nativity – featuring an identical stone wall over which the men gaze into the stable – and the Last Judgement (our f.62v) across the two manuscripts, while the floral decorative device used to adorn certain of the robes and tapestries in both manuscripts is the same.
The borders of our manuscript – arranged in compartments, featuring acanthus, flowers and fruit on grounds alternating gold, red and blue – are typical of Rouen production between 1485-95, apart from the Last Judgement, for which a solid ground of liquid gold consistent with a slightly later dating is employed.
The subjects of the large arch-topped miniatures are as follows: Quadripartite depiction of the four Evangelists f.4; Annunciation f.20; Crucifixion f.31v; Nativity f.33; Adoration of the Magi f.39; Flight into Egypt f.43v; Bathsheba bathing f.52; Last Judgement f.62v.
The small miniature depicting the Betrayal is on f.11v.
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