Beschreibung:

Follower of the Master of Girart de Roussillon and the Beady Eyes Group Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Western Flanders, 1450s] A beguiling collaboration between two distinctive artists working in Western Flanders in the second half of the 15th century. 182 x 126mm. iii + 100 + iv leaves modern foliation in pen 1-93 (omitting calendar) followed here, 20 lines, ruled space: 114 x 72mm, rubrics in red, major sections opening with large illuminated initials within full borders, smaller illuminated and red or blue initials throughout, sometimes extending into margins, 12 full-page miniatures within full borders (lacking one leaf after f.2, likely with the miniature opening the Hours of the Holy Ghost, some rubbing and loss of pigment to miniatures on ff.viii verso, 5v, 17v, 57v and 69v, faces of the devils in the Last Judgement scratched out, occasional marginal staining). 19th-century calf gilt (spine restored). Provenance: (1) Added prayers in Dutch on ff.90v-93v in a 16th-century hand. (2) Rumoldus Jacobus Wetz (1644-1721), schoolmaster, organist, steward, notary and secretary of the city of Aarschot, in Belgium: his ownership inscription in Latin. (3) 18th-century table of contents and inscriptions, including one ascribing the manuscript to a Petrus Josephus Santini and dating it to 1318, and another saying it must have been written before 1380, presumably on the basis of a misunderstanding of feasts in the Calendar. (4) Isaac Herbert (active 1793-1798), bookseller and printseller: A catalogue. Books of Prints, portraits, medals, manuscripts, and elegant illuminated Missals, 1793, no 24. Clipping from the sale catalogue pasted to endpaper. (5) Edward J. Ottley: his ownership inscription on first endleaf ‘Edward J. Ottley July 19th 1854’. (6) Bookseller’s note (possibly Sotheby’s) 14/8/[18]79. (4) Bookplate with coat of arms three garbs in a bend nebuly between 2 Jerusalem crosses, with the motto: ‘Dat Deus incrementum’, identified in pencil as that of Sir Malby Crofton of Longford House, Sligo (either the 2nd Baronet, 1797-1872, or the 3rd, 1857-1926) – but although the motto is indeed that of the Croftons of Longford House, the coat of arms is closer to that of the Bancroft family (see, for example, the bookplate of Samuel Bancroft Jr (1840-1915), or three garbs in a bend azure between 6 Jerusalem crosses of the same, with the same motto. (7) Joseph Hornstein, of 110, Victoria Street: his sale at Sotheby’s, 25 February 1918. Content: ruled blank with ownership inscriptions f.i; Calendar ff.ii-vii; Hours of the Cross ff.1-2v; Hours of the Holy Ghost ff.3-4v; Mass of the Virgin ff.6-9; Gospel sequences ff.9v-12v; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.13-16v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.18-56v: matins f.18, lauds f.26, prime f.35, terce f.39, sext f.42, none f.45, vespers f.48, compline f.54; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.58-68v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.70-90; added prayers in Dutch ff.90v-93v. Illumination: There are two artists at work in this manuscript: the first, and most accomplished, is responsible for the miniatures on ff.viii verso, 5v, 17v, 57v and 69v. He delights in detailed settings, whether landscape or interior: we see a precise definition of execution and a confident, controlled touch. His restrained pastel palette and small-boned figure style show the influence of Simon Marmion There are also the obvious influences of Lieven van Lathem and the Master of Girart de Roussillon, both contributors to a prayerbook illuminated for Philip the Good (Paris, BnF, NAF 16428). The second hand is responsible for illustrating the bulk of the Hours of the Virgin, and is in the style of the Masters of the Beady Eyes (Maitres aux Yeux-Bridés), named from their distinctive manner of delineating eyes with firm dark lines and a beady dot; the Masters’ work was particularly popular on the export market. Although their oeuvre relates to that of the earlier Masters of the