Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Cambrai, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Cambrai or Hainault, c.1480] A well-preserved Book of Hours from the Cambrai-Hainault region, a witness to the vitality of the book crafts outside the more familiar centres of Flanders and to the crucial influence of Simon Marmion the ‘Prince of Illumination’ 142 x 95mm, 158 leaves, complete, 14 lines, ruled space: 94 x 62mm, five large miniatures with full borders (slight smudge miniature f.41). 18th-century red morocco gilt tooled. Green morocco case. Provenance : (1) The use of the Office of the Virgin is for Cambrai; the short Office of the Dead is found in Cambrai books; the saints in the Calendar and Litany (Cambrai: Landelin, Géry, Achard, Ghislain; Hainault: Aldegunde, Ermin; neighbouring Arras: Vaast) indicate the southern part of the diocese, as does the language and orthography. The book may have been made in Cambrai itself, the seat of an independent prince-bishop, or in a centre in the county of Hainault to the east and north, perhaps Valenciennes; the absence of St Waudru makes Mons less likely. Prayers are in the feminine. (2) Denys François du Rieu purchased the book on 16 February 1686, f.158v. Content : calendar ff.1-12; prayers with Gospel extracts from John and Luke ff.13-24; Hours of the Cross ff.25-32v, Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.33-40v; Office of the Virgin, use of Cambrai ff.41-95v; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.956-113, prayers including suffrage to St Géry ff.113-129v; short Office of the Dead. Illumination : Decoration as well as texts place this Hours in a group of manuscripts apparently produced in Hainault or Cambrai by illuminators profoundly influenced by the work of Simon Marmion who by 1458 had moved from Amiens to Valenciennes where he died in 1489; in 1503 he was lauded as ‘prince of illumination’. Its miniatures draw on compositions originated by Marmion which then circulated in greatly simplified forms with unnecessary figures eliminated but still with his expansive landscapes in his favoured soft greens and blues. These emphasise the strong reds and blues of the figures, not typical of Marmion, but found elsewhere in the group, e.g the Book of Hours in the Renate König Collection, where the Lazarus miniature is particularly close (J. Plotzek et al. , Ars vivendi, ars moriendi , 2001, no 20). The borders in the König Hours, also derived from Marmion, are similar but a Book of Hours, sold in these rooms 2 June 2014 lot 19, has borders so like those in the present lot (seen also at each Hour of the Virgin) that the same hand was probably responsible for both. The two miniature hands here have yet to be detected in the related Hours. The more elegant figures of the Annunciation, closer to the Marmion canon, contrast with the bulkier figures of the remaining miniatures. In Annunciation and Pentecost, both hands successfully combined traditional diapered gold grounds with Marmion’s more naturalistic innovations. The subjects of the miniatures are: Crucifixion f.25, Pentecost f.33, Annunciation f.41, David in penitence f.96, Raising of Lazarus f.130.