Walters Ms. W.177, Book of Hours (Use of Rome)

W.177

Book of Hours (Use of Rome)

This pocket-size Flemish Book of Hours was created in Bruges between 1460 and 1470. A heavy contingent of South Netherlandish and northern French saints in the litany helps localize its production. The Italianate script and later Italian provenance suggest that the manuscript might have been created for a member of the Italian community in Bruges. It contains twelve full-page miniatures produced by a single artist working in the style of the prolific mid-fifteenth-century Flemish illuminator Willem Vrelant. Several other Books of Hours in the Walters' collection are similar in style to this manuscript, exhibiting the characteristics of the Vrelant circle, notably W.179, W.180, and W.183.

Ca. 1460-70 CE

Bruges, Flanders

Supplied name: Circle of Willem Vrelant

Known as: Circle of Guillaume Vrelant

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Well-finished, well-selected, clean white parchment, thin to medium weight, with thicker leaves for inserted miniatures

Foliation: i+229+i

Pencil foliation, upper right corners rectos

Formula: Quire 1: 8, with first folio cancelled (fols. 1-7); Quire 2: 6 (fols. 8-13); Quire 3: 8, with first folio cancelled and second folio added (fols. 14-21); Quires 4-5: 8 (fols. 22-37); Quire 6: 8, with second folio added (fols. 38-46); Quire 7: 8 (fols. 47-54); Quire 8: 8, with first and eighth folios added (fols. 55-64); Quire 9: 4 (fols. 65-68); Quire 10: 8, with first and eighth folios added (fols. 69-78); Quire 11: 8, with fifth folio added (fols. 79-87); Quire 12: 8, fifth folio added one removed (uncertain which one) (fols. 88-95); Quire 13: 6 (fols. 96-101); Quire 14: 8, with first folio added (fols. 102-110); Quire 15: 8 (fols. 111-118); Quire 16: 4 (fols. 119-122); Quires 17-18: 8 (fols. 123-138); Quire 19: 8, with first folio added (fols. 139-147); Quires 20-25: 8 (fols. 148-195); Quire 26: 8, with ninth folio added and later removed (fols. 196-203); Quire 27: 8, with second folio added (fols. 204-212); Quire 28: 8 (fols. 213-220); Quire 29: 8, with ninth folio as singleton (fols. 221-229)

Catchwords: Cropped catchword extant in lower right corner of 110v, in text hand, brown ink

Signatures: None

Comments: Quires open flesh-side out except for illuminated folios

6.0 cm wide by 8.0 cm high

3.0 cm wide by 4.8 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 15
3. Layout does not apply to calendar (3 columns); ruled in red ink

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Hand note: Italianate gotica rotunda
3. Decoration note: Eleven full-page miniatures (at least one other now lacking) with foliate margins on four sides facing opening pages of text; one cropped full-page miniature affixed to blank portion of final recto; fourteen large decorated illuminated initials (5-6 lines) usually facing miniatures and with matching foliate margins; foliate margins feature drolleries (usually birds and hybrids) at base; illuminated initials at secondary text divisions in gold against blue or pink grounds (3 lines); "K L" in calendar in gold against blue and pink grounds with white outlines (2 lines); flourished initials in alternating blue or gold with red and black flourishes throughout; geometric line fillers in gold and blue (in litany only); rubrics and major feast days in red; text in black ink

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Januarius xxxi Luna: xxx.
3. Contents: Calendar half-full; graded in red and black ink; Franciscan interest evident in selection of saints, mainly South Netherlandish and northern French; saints of note are: Amandus and Vedast (Feb. 6), Perpetua (Mar. 6), Eutropius (Mar. 31), Gertrude (Mar. 17), Sophia (May 15), Francis (May 24, translation), Basil (June 14), Thomas Becket (July 3, translation), Bernard (Aug. 20), Aegydius (Sept. 1), Bertin (Sept. 4), Nicholas of Tolentino (Sept. 10), Remigius and Bavo (Oct. 1), Francis (Oct. 4), Donatian (Oct. 14), Livin (Nov. 12), Maclovius (Nov. 14)

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipit officium beate marie virginis secundum usum romane ecclesie. Ad matutinas.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Contents: Use of Rome
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures fols. 14v, 39v, 55v, 62v, 69v, 76v, 83v, and 94v; decorated illuminated initials fols. 15r, 40r, 56r, 63r, 70r, 77r, 84r, and 95r

1. Title: Advent Office of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipit officium beate marie virginis quod dicitur per totum adventum. ad vesperas.
3. Incipit: Deus in adiutorium meum intende
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 102v; large decorated illuminated initial on fol. 103r

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Rubric: Incipiunt septem psalmi penitenciales. antiphona.
3. Incipit: Ne reminiscaris. Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me
4. Hand note: Large decorated illuminated initial and foliate margins on 114r; lacks full-page miniature before fol. 144

1. Title: Litany, petitions, and collects
2. Rubric: Letanie.
3. Incipit: Kyrieleison
4. Contents: Fols. 128r-138v: litany with saints for Use of Rome, Franciscan sympathy indicated, comprising fifteen apostles, evangelists, disciples, innocents (Peter to Mark); eleven martyrs, including Christopher; twelve confessors, including Bernard, Francis, Louis of Toulouse, Bernardinus; nine virgins, widows, "continentes," including Mary Magdalene, Agnes, Clare, Gertrude; fols. 131r-134r: petitions, invocations, and Psalm 69; fols. 134r-135v: imprecations; fols. 136r-138v: eleven collects

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Rubric: Incipit officium vigilie mortuorum a. ps.
3. Incipit: Placebo. Dilexi qui exaudiet dominus
4. Contents: Use of Rome
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature with foliate margins on fol. 139v; large decorated illuminated initial and foliate margins on fol. 140r

1. Title: Hours of the Cross
2. Rubric: Incipit officium de sancta cruce. Ad matutinas.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Decoration note: Large decorated illuminated initial and foliate margins on fol. 196r

1. Title: Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Rubric: Incipit officium de sancto spiritu
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature with foliate margins on fol. 205v; large decorated illuminated initial and foliate margins on fol. 206r

1. Title: Mass of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipit missa beate marie virginis
3. Incipit: Et introibo ad altare dei
4. Decoration note: Cropped full-page miniature affixed at a later date to blank portion of fol. 229r; large decorated illuminated initial and foliate margins on fol. 215r

fol. 14v:

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

fol. 39v:

1. 
2. Title: Visitation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Lauds

fol. 55v:

1. 
2. Title: Nativity-Adoration
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime

fol. 62v:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation to the shepherds
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Terce

fol. 69v:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext

fol. 76v:

1. 
2. Title: Presentation in the Temple
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 83v:

1. 
2. Title: Massacre of an Innocent
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Vespers

fol. 94v:

1. 
2. Title: Flight into Egypt; Fall of an idol
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 102v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ blessing the Virgin
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Advent Office of the Virgin

fol. 139v:

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

fol. 205v:

1. 
2. Title: Pentecost
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit

fol. 229r:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Full-page miniature, cropped and affixed to blank portion of final recto
4. Text: Mass of the Virgin

The binding is not original.

Italian eighteenth-century full brown morocco, resewn on three single cords; gilt decorative roll borders on boards with foliate decorations in all corners; flat spine with three panels (not aligned with sewing stations) framed in gilt, each with foliate ornament at center; all edges gilt; twelve modern leather dealer tabs (or remains thereof) at fore-edge; black-speckled blue paper pastedowns

Made in Bruges, ca. 1460-70, for the Use of Rome, in the circle of Willem Vrelant, probably for a member of the Italian community in Bruges

Franciscus Antonius Noveria, eighteenth-century gift inscription on verso of front flyleaf: "Ad usum Francisci Antonii Noveriae(?) ex dono C.M."

Léon Gruel, Paris, late nineteenth or early twentieth century; his catalog number "No 841" on recto of front flyleaf

Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Gruel before 1931

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

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. 813, cat. no. 345.

"Bulletin Codicologique." Scriptorium 27 (1973); p. 395.

Owens, Michelle B."Musical Subjects in the Illumination of Books of Hours from Fifteenth-Century France and Flanders." Ph.D. diss, University of Chicago, 1987; p. 390.

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. 275-278, cat. no. 255.

Christie's. Sale 6237--Fine Books and Manuscripts. South Kensington, London, 19 June 2012; ref. under lot 3 "St. Nicholas and the Miracle at Sea, Full-Page Miniature on a Leaf from a Book of Hours, Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum, [Southern Netherlands, Probably Bruges, c.1470]."

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Kladstrup, Regan

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Herbold, Rebekah; Noel, William; Schuele, Allyson; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Wiegand, Kimber

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.