Walters Ms. W.170, Book of Hours

W.170

Book of Hours

Book of Hours

This Book of Hours was originally completed ca. 1430-1440 but has since been reconstructed, with several prayers and suffrages having been added to it over time. The miniatures were illuminated under the influence of the Master of Guillebert de Mets. Both the original and a subsequent owner are depicted in prayer on fols. 9v and 165v, respectively. The book was rebound by Joris de Gavere of Ghent ca. 1525-1535. The manuscript was rebacked in the modern period, but the sixteenth-century boards remain. Both contain stamped panels depicting angels playing instruments, and a band of fantastic animals depicted in profile. An inscription cites Joris de Gavere as the maker and asks the angels for their prayers.

Second quarter of 15th century CE

Ghent

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Medium-weight, and well-selected parchment; margins have been scraped clean; fols. 8, 59, 127, 154, and 168 were at one point disbound and folded in half horizontally

Foliation: 182

Parchment stub after last folio; early pen foliation and slightly later pencil foliation inconsistently paired lower part of upper right corner rectos; modern smaller pencil foliation at very top of upper right corner rectos (used here)

Formula: Collation not possible due to rebacking

Catchwords: Two to three words on lower right of the page in light brown ink and underlined, most have been effaced, best surviving example on fol. 24v; likely not contemporary

Comments: Generally quires of eight with inserted full-page miniatures

10.9 cm wide by 15.4 cm high

fols. 1r - 182v: 5.2 cm wide by 8.1 cm high

fols. FrontPastedown - 1v: 5.2 cm wide by 8.0 cm high

fols. 2r - 7v: 5.1 cm wide by 7.7 cm high

fols. 1r - 182v:

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 16

fols. FrontPastedown - 1v:

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 18

fols. 2r - 7v:

1. Columns: 4-5
2. Ruled lines: 34

fols. 1r - 182v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Hand note: Compact textura, punctus elevatus, and punctus paused
3. Decoration note: Twenty-seven full-page miniatures; eight historiated initials (6 lines), decorated and flourished initial, floral borders, drolleries in borders on fols. 9r and 50r, line fillers; rubrics in red; text in brown ink

fols. FrontPastedown - 1v:

1. Title: Front pastedown with creeds and diagrams
2. Incipit: [C]redo in deum patrem omnipotentem
3. Contents: Seventeen lines of Creeds; diagrams on fol. 1v for determining golden numbers and dominical letters, circles dated to 1413 CE; rectangular diagram drawn below
4. Text note: Written in the first quarter of the 15th century; parchment reused from another manuscript and added to this book at rebinding
5. Hand note: Irregular textura in brown ink

fols. 2r - 7v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Januarius habet dies xxxi. luna vero xxx.
3. Contents: Composed of northern French, Netherlandish, and English saints with feasts connected to Amiens; saints of note include Thomas Becket (Jan. 5), Bathildis (Jan. 30), Vedast and Amandus (Feb. 6), Milburg (Feb. 23), David (Mar. 1), George (Apr. 23), Valeric (Apr. 1), Brendan (May 17), William (June 7), Eligius (June 25), Oswald (Aug. 5), Bertin (Sept. 5), Cosmas and Damian (Sept. 26), Bavo, Vedast, Remigius "& aliorum" (Oct. 1), Donatian (Oct. 14), Wulfram (Oct. 15), Crispinus (Oct. 24), Lazarus (Dec. 18); occasional Egyptian days indicated with "dies egta"
4. Text note: Major feasts in red, all others in brown ink
5. Hand note: Compact textura

fols. 8r - 8r:

1. Title: Birth notice
2. Contents: Added in the sixteenth century

fols. 8v - 48v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore beate marie secundum usum romane curie. Ad matutinas.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 8v; historiated initials on fols. 9r, 17v, 27r, 30r, 33r, 35v, 39r, and 45r

fols. 49v - 60v:

1. Title: Hours of the Cross
2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore de sancta cruce. Ad matutinas.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 49v, 51v, 53v, 55v, 57v, and 59v

fols. 61v - 71v:

1. Title: Mass of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Missa beate marie virginis
3. Incipit: Introibo ad altare dei
4. Contents: Mass of the Virgin; Gospel sequences fols. 66v-71r (atypical)
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 61v

fols. 72v - 78v:

1. Title: Three prayers to the Virgin
2. Rubric: Si quis devote
3. Incipit: Obsecro te
4. Contents: Heading instructs the reader that reciting the prayers before bed will cause the Virgin to appear at the time of their death
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 72v

fols. 79r - 80v:

1. Title: Prayer to Christ
2. Rubric: Sequentem oracionem composuit
3. Incipit: In mensam clementiam
4. Contents: Attributed to St. Augustine

fols. 81v - 91r:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Rubric: Incipiunt septem psalmi penitenciales
3. Incipit: Domine ne in furore
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 81r

fols. 91r - 97v:

1. Title: Litany, petitions, and collects
2. Rubric: Incipiunt letanie sanctorum cum precibus et collectis: secundum usum romane curie
3. Incipit: Kyrieleison
4. Contents: Mainly female saints taken from northern France and southern Netherlands; saints of note include St. John the Baptist; sixteen apostles/disciples; nineteen martyrs including George, Lambert, Dionysius, Maurice, Adrian, and Victor; eighteen confessors/monks/hermits including Judocus, Alexis, Benedict, Audomar, Leonard, Amandus, Vedast, Remigius, Bavo; twenty-three virgins/widows/continentes including Anne, Mary, Egyptian, Juliana, Walburga, Brigid, Gertrude, Fides, Spes, and Caritas

fols. 98v - 112v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Rubric: Incipit officium mortuorum
3. Incipit: Dilexi quoniam exaudiet
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 98v

fols. 113r - 114v:

1. Title: Prayer to the Holy Face
2. Incipit: Salve sancta facies
3. Text note: Text rhyming

fols. 115v - 126v:

1. Title: Devotional sequence
2. Rubric: De sancta trinitate
3. Incipit: Te deum patrem unigenitum te filium
4. Contents: Fols 116r-v: Suffrage to Trinity; fols. 117r-v: Prayer to Christ the Holy Spirit; fols. 117v-120v: Four Prayers to Christ; fols. 120v-123r: Four Prayers to the Trinity and Christ; fols. 123r-v: Communion Prayer; fols. 123v-124r: Suffrage to the Cross; fols. 124r-125v: Two prayers attributed to St. Augustine; fol. 126r: Communion Prayer
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 115v

fols. 127v - 136v:

1. Title: Seven Joys of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Salutatio ad beatam virginem mariam
3. Incipit: Gaude virgo mater christi
4. Contents: Fols. 128r-129r: Seven Joys of the Virgin; fol. 131v: Prayer to Christ on the Cross; fols. 132r-135r: Prayer on Sorrow of the Virgin by the Cross; fols. 135r-136v: Apostles' Salutations to the Virgin
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 127v

fols. 137v - 143v:

1. Title: Suffrages
2. Rubric: Antiphona. De angelis.
3. Incipit: Angeli archangeli throni
4. Contents: Suffrages to angels, SS. Peter and Paul, apostles, and John the Baptist
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 137v

fols. 144v - 147r:

1. Title: Seven Last Words of Christ
2. Rubric: Incipit oratio venerabilis
3. Incipit: Domine ihesu christe
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 144v

fols. 148v - 151v:

1. Title: Prayer sequence
2. Rubric: Benedictus papa duo decimus concessit hanc orationem devote dicenti eo tempore quo eucharista exstat in altari tot dies indulgentiales quod erant in xristi corpore vulnera. Summa XVm .CCCC. et sexaginta.
3. Incipit: Precor te piissime
4. Contents: Two prayers to Christ: fols. 149r-150v; Prayer to St. George: fol. 150v; Early added prayers to Christ's Wounds and St. Catherine
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 148v

fols. 152r - 176v:

1. Title: Suffrages
2. Rubric: Oracio de sancta katherina
3. Incipit: Ave virginum gemma katherina
4. Contents: Suffrages on fols. 165v-176v added at an early date
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 154v, 157v, 159v, 161v, 163v 165v, 168v 171v, and 174v

fols. 177r - 178v:

1. Title: Eight verses of St. Bernard
2. Rubric: Legitur in vita bernardi
3. Incipit: Illumina oculos meos

fols. 179r - 182v:

1. Title: Added Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore de sancto spiritu
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea
4. Contents: Added in the sixteenth century; secondary headings in Latin and Dutch

fols. BackPastedown - BackPastedown:

1. Title: Back pastedown with imprecations to Guardian Angel
2. Incipit: Angelus qui meus est
3. Text note: Added in the second half of the fifteenth century

fol. 8v:

1. 
2. Title: Virgin and Child with original owner
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins

fol. 9r:

1. 
2. Title: Manuscript owner praying
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins

fol. 17v:

1. 
2. Title: Hours of the Virgin: Visitation
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 5 lines
4. Text: Lauds

fol. 27r:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation to the Shepherds
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime

fol. 30r:

1. 
2. Title: Nativity
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Terce

fol. 33r:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext

fol. 35v:

1. 
2. Title: Presentation in the Temple
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 39r:

1. 
2. Title: Massacre of the Innocents
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Vespers

fol. 45r:

1. 
2. Title: Flight into Egypt
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 49v:

1. 
2. Title: Betrayal-Arrest
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Matins

fol. 50r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "D"
3. Form: Decorated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Matins

fol. 51v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ before Pilate
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Lauds

fol. 53v:

1. 
2. Title: Hours of the Cross: Flagellation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Terce

fol. 55v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ bearing Cross
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Sext

fol. 57v:

1. 
2. Title: Deposition
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Vespers

fol. 59v:

1. 
2. Title: Entombment
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Compline

fol. 61v:

1. 
2. Title: Death of the Virgin
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Mass of the Virgin
5. Comment:

   Figure of Doubting Thomas holding the Virgin's girdle in the right margin

fol. 72v:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Three prayers to the Virgin: "Obsecro te"

fol. 81v:

1. 
2. Title: Last Judgment
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms

fol. 98v:

1. 
2. Title: Funeral service
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Office of the Dead

fol. 99r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "D"
3. Form: Decorated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Office of the Dead

fol. 115v:

1. 
2. Title: Throne of Grace
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Devotional sequence: Suffrage to the Trinity

fol. 127v:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Seven Joys of the Virgin

fol. 137v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Michael and the devil
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Michael

fol. 140v:

1. 
2. Title: St. John the Baptist
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. John the Baptist

fol. 142v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Daniel in the lions' den
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Daniel

fol. 144v:

1. 
2. Title: Resurrection
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Seven Last Words of Christ

fol. 148v:

1. 
2. Title: Man of Sorrows
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Prayer sequence

fol. 154v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Christopher carrying Christ-Child
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Christopher

fol. 157v:

1. 
2. Title: St. George and the Dragon
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. George

fol. 159v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Cornelius
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Cornelius

fol. 161v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Sebastian martyred
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Sebastian

fol. 163v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Anthony
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Anthony

fol. 165v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Mary Magdalene with manuscript owner
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Mary Magdalene

fol. 168v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Catherine
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Catherine

fol. 171v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Barbara
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Barbara

fol. 174v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Wilgefortis martyred
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Wilgefortis

The binding is not original.

Made in Flanders by Joris de Gavere; brown calf with replaced spine and corners to match; stamped panel on both upper and lower boards; top and bottom sections display angels playing instruments in roundels created by vines, with these two sections surrounded by text and floral borders inscribed with "Joris de Gavere me ligavit in Gandavo, om[n]es sancti angeli et archangeli dei orate pro nobis"; middle section contains five animals, from left to right: boar, unicorn, lion, wyvern, and a stag; two brass clasps probably added by Gruel

Illuminated under influence of the Master of Guillebert de Mets, Ghent, 1430-1440; original owner depicted on fols. 8v-9r

Secondary patron depicted on added fol. 165v, unknown date

Rebound by Joris de Gavere, Ghent, 1525-1535

Two birth notices appear on fols. 8r and 182r, written in Dutch and dated to 1529 and 1576 respectively

Léon Gruel, Paris, ca. 1900; Gruel and Engelmann bookplate on front pastedown inscribed "No 432", Gruel dealer plate on fol. 1r

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel between 1905 and 1931

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

Collection Léon Gruel: Manuscrits rares et précieux. Sale catalogue. Paris, c. 1905; lot no. 10.

Gruel, Léon. Manuel de l'amateur de reliures, vol. 2. Paris: Gruel and Engelmann, 1905; p. 86.

De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 787, cat. no. 189.

Leroquais, Victor. Un livre d'heures de Jean sans Peur, Duc de Bourgogne (1404–1419). Paris: Georges Andrieux, 1939; p. 53 (erroneously cited as W. 172).

Miner, Dorothy. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949; cat. no. 126.

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953; pp. 119, 128, fig. 190.

Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death: The Arts, Religion, and Society in the Mid-Fourteenth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951; pp. 142-143, 178.

Miner, Dorothy, and Philippe Verdier. The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400. Exhibition Catalogue, Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1962; cat. no. 69, Pl. LVII.

Diringer, David. The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production. Revised edition. NY: Philosophical Library, 1967; p. 440.

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting: Plates. NY: Harper and Row, 1971; pp. xii, 82.

Rogers, Nicholas. "Books of Hours Produced in the Low Countries for the English Market in the Fifteenth Century." M. Phil., Cambridge University, 1982; p. 265.

Dogaear, Georges. Flemish Manuscript Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries. Amsterdam: B.M. Israël, 1987; p. 31.

Gifford, E.M. "Pattern and Style in a Flemish Book of Hours: Walters MS 239." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 45 (1987): 89-102; pp. 93, 95, figs. 71, 72.

Wieck, Roger S. Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. Exhibition Catalogue. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery. NY: George Braiziller, 1988; PP. 116-117, 209, cat. no. 83, Pl. 35.

Reinburg, Virginia. "Hearing Lay People's Prayer." In Culture and Identity in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800): Essays in Honor of Natalie Zeemon Davis. Edited by Barbara B. Diefendorf and Carla Alison Hesse, 19-40. Anne Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1993; p. 37.

Smeyers, Maurits et al. Naer natueren ghelike: Vlaamse miniaturen voor van Eyck. Louvain: Peeters, 1993; p. 98, fig. 24.

Smeyers, Maurits, Bert Cardon, et al. Vlaamse miniaturen voor van Eyck (ca. 1380-ca. 1420) Catalogus. Corpus van verluchte handschriften 6, Low Countries Series 4. Louvain: Peeters, 1993; cat. no. 51, fig. 54.

Gathercole, Patricia M. Animals in Medieval French Manuscript Illumination. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995; p. 58.

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 123-132, cat. no. 231.

Strumwasser, Gina. "Betrayal." In The Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art, Vol. 1. Edited by Helene E. Roberts, 125-136. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998; p. 134.

Smeyers, Maurits. Flemish Miniatures from the 8th to the Mid-16th Century: The Medieval World on Parchment. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1999; pp. 240-241, 285.

Rogers, Nicholas. "Patrons and Purchasers: Evidence for the Original Owners of Books of Hours Produced in the Low Countries for the English Market." In "Als Ich Can": Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, edited by Bert Cardon, Jan Van der Stock, and Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, 1165-1179, vol. 2. Leuven: Peeters Press, 2002; p. 1169.

Alcoy, Rosa. San Jorge y la princesa: diálogos de la pintura del siglo XV en Cataluña y Aragon. Barcelona: Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2004; p. 49.

Gathercole, Patricia M. The Depiction of Angels and Demons in Medieval French Manuscript Illumination. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004; p. 75.

Vanwijnsberghe, Dominique. "Le cycle d'enfance des petites de la vierge dans les livres d'heures des pays-bas méridionaux." In Manuscripten en miniaturen: Studies aangeboden aan Anne S. Korteweg bij haar afscheid van de Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Boekhandel. Nieuwe Reeks (8). Edited by Jos Biemans, Klaas van der Hoek, Kathryn M. Rudy, and Ed van der Vlist, 355-366. Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2007; p. 360.

L'Engle, Susan. "Depictions of Chastity: Virture Made Visible." In Chastity: A Study in Perception, Ideals, and Opposition. Edited by Nancy Elizabeth Van Deusen, 87-126. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2008; pp. 114, 126, fig. 9.

Dneffe, Dominique, Famke Peters, and Wim Fremout. Pre-Eyckian Panel Painting in the Low Countries, Vol. 1. Brussels: Brepols, 2009; pp. 145-146 (fig. 26), cat. no. 2, pp. 300, 307 (n. 63), cat. no. 6.

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Shartrand, Emily

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Brown, Emily; Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Schuele, Allyson; Shartrand, Emily; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Wiegand, Kimber

The Walters Art Museum

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