Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rouen, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rouen, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Rouen, c.1485] 149 x 100mm, ii(i former pastedown) + 124 leaves + iii(iii former pastedown): 1 1 2 , 2 8 , 3 6 , 4-8 8 , 9 2 , 10-16 8 , COMPLETE, 18 lines written in a bâtarde hand in black ink between two verticals and 19 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 80 x 49mm, text capitals touched yellow, rubrics in red, one-line initials and line-endings in liquid gold on grounds of alternately red or blue, two- to four-line initials with white acanthus staves on liquid gold grounds with infills of fruit, flowers or foliage, EVERY PAGE WITH A PANEL BORDER IN THE OUTER MARGIN, most rectos also with a border in the inner margin of acanthus and sprays of flowers and fruit on divided grounds with liquid gold, 24 SMALL CALENDAR MINIATURES of the signs of the zodiac and the occupations of the month, THIRTEEN LARGE MINIATURES, seven in architectural frames above borders of acanthus, fruit- and flower-sprays enriched by animals, birds and grotesques on liquid gold grounds, six within full borders of similar type each containing two small miniatures, TWO FULL-PAGE MINIATURES IN ARCHITECTURAL FRAMES with the opening word of the office written in red along the lower edge (occasional offsetting or showthrough, mostly onto blank margins, a few small losses of pigment from miniatures on ff.18v, 49, 56v, 59, slight smudge to sky on f.69 and smudging to lower border on f.85). 18th-century brown calf with the armorial stamp gilt of Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, marquis de Magny (1643-1721). AMONG THE HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF ROUEN ILLUMINATION: AN EXCEPTIONALLY REFINED BOOK OF HOURS BY THE MASTER OF THE GENEVA LATINI, ROBERT BOYVIN AND JEAN SERPIN. PROVENANCE: The book was presumably made in Rouen for the lady shown kneeling before the Virgin on f.116; Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, marquis de Magny (1643-1721): the smallest of the three tools with his arms on upper and lower covers (E. Olivier, Manuel de l'amateur de reliures armoriées françaises , 1929, pl.1852). Ennobled for his services in government, Foucault was a keen antiquarian who assembled an outstanding library of printed books and manuscripts, including the Sherborne Missal, BL Add. MS 74236. His library began to be dispersed during his lifetime; Jacques Charles Bonvoisin: 'ex libris Jacobi Caroli Bonvoisin' on the first parchment endleaf might refer to Jean Charles Bonvoisin, fl.1729, canon of Martinie Brian in Anjou; Jean-François Bodin (1766-1829): 'Bodin, Saumur 1800' and a note dating the book to the reign of Charles V 1364-1380 on the second parchment endleaf are presumably by the hand of the diligent researcher whose Recherches historiques sur la ville de Saumur , Saumur, 1812 and 1814, is still regarded as a fundamental work. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-12; Gospel extracts ff.13-8; Obsecro te and O Intemerata ff.18v-26v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rouen, ff.27-68: matins f.27, lauds f.36, prime f.49, terce f.53v, sext f.56v, none f.59, vespers f.62, compline f.64v; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.69-84v; Hours of the Cross ff.85-7v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.88-90v; Office of the Dead, use of Rouen ff.91-115v; the Fifteen Joys of the Virgin in French ff.116-21; the Seven Requests in French ff.121v-4. ILLUMINATION: The refined illumination shows three Rouen illuminators working to an exceptionally high standard: the Master of the Geneva Latini (or Master of the Échevinage de Rouen), who dominated Rouen book production in the second half of the 15th century, Robert Boyvin favoured artist of Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, whose career is documented between 1487 and 1503, and Jean Serpin, a border specialist who regularly collaborated with Boyvin. While the older artist, the Master of the Geneva Latini, was responsible for the Calendar miniatures, portrayed the owner of this lavish commission on f.116 and painted the full-page miniature, the Meeting of the Three Living and the Three D