Walters Ms. W.168, Book of Hours

W.168

Book of Hours

Book of Hours

This fine illuminated Book of Hours was produced in two stages in the second and third quarters of the fifteenth century. The manuscript contains eleven full-page miniatures and twenty historiated initials. The first stage of production includes a section attributed to the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg and the calendar (fols. 3r-14v, 52v-211v), while additional prayers illustrated in the style of the workshop of Willem Vrelant were added later in the fifteenth century (fols. 16r-50v, 213r-223r), presumably when the book was bound in its present binding. The Hours of the Virgin is for the Use of Rome. The Use of the Office of the Dead is unidentified, but the calendar is for the Use of Utrecht. The two separate parts of the manuscript were bound together in Flanders. The sections of W.168 attributed to the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg have been compared to Utrecht, Utrecht University Ms. 1037; Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum James Ms. 141; the second hand in New York, Pierpont Morgan Library Ms. M.87; Stockholm, Royal Library A 226, and Philadelphia, Free Library Lewis Ms. 88.

Second quarter of the 15th century (ca. 1430-35), with additions ca. 1460

Utrecht, with additions probably in Bruges

Supplied name: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg

Supplied name: Style of Willem Vrelant

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Medium-weight, light-cream-colored parchment, well surfaced on both sides; miniatures on heavier parchment

Foliation: 223+ii

Modern pencil foliation in upper right corners

Formula: 1(8), 2-6(8), 7(4), 8(10,-10), 9(8), 10(10,-2), 11(12,-3,8), 12(12,-5,10), 13(12,-8,12) 14(10,-10), 15(8), 16(10,-7), 17(8), 18(6), 19(10,-10), 20(8), 21(10,-9), 22-25(8), 26(8-8), 27(12,-1), ii

Catchwords: None

Signatures: None

Comments: Quires begin on pastedown (1) and fols. 8(2) 16(3), 24(4), 32(5), 40(6), 48(7), 52(8), 61(9), 69(10), 78(11), 88(12), 98(13), 108(14), 117(15), 125(16), 134(17), 142(18), 148(19), 157(20), 165(21), 174(22), 182(23), 190(24), 198(25), 206(26), 213(27)

11.4 cm wide by 16.0 cm high

5.6 cm wide by 8.6 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 15-16
3. Brown and red ruled lines

fols. 1r - 223r:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Artists: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg; Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Hand note: Written in Gothic bookhand by two scribes in separate campaigns, the first responsible for fols. 1r-14v and 52r-212v, the second for fols. 16r-51v and 213r-223r
4. Decoration note: Eleven full-page miniatures edged in gold and white-streaked blue/rose; Zweder Master sections feature five historiated initials (1 to 9 lines high); Vrelant Master sections feature fifteen historiated initials (8 lines high), as well as ornamental initials (1 to 4 lines high); borders decorated as in Zweder Master sections; floral sprays often found in margins; rubrics in red; text in black ink

fols. 3r - 14v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Rubric: Januarius
4. Text note: Full calendar, Use of Utrecht, graded (black and red); saints include George (January 11), Benigne (June 28), Frederick (July 18), and Philibert (August 20)

fols. 16r - 22v:

1. Title: Office of the Cross
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Incipit officium sancte crucis
4. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
5. Decoration note: Historiated initial "D," fol. 16r

fols. 23r - 29r:

1. Title: Mass of the Virgin
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Incipit missa beate Marie Virginis
4. Incipit: Introibo ad altare Dei
5. Decoration note: Historiated initial "I," fol. 23r

fols. 29r - 34r:

1. Title: Gospel sequences
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Initium sancti Euuangelii secundum Johannem Gloria tibi domine
4. Incipit: In principio erat verbum

fols. 34v - 38v:

1. Title: Obsecro te
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Oratio deuota de beata Virgine
4. Incipit: Obsecro te domina sancta Maria Mater Dei
5. Decoration note: Historiated initial "O," fol. 34v

fols. 38v - 41v:

1. Title: O intermerata
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Alia oratio de beata Virgo
4. Incipit: O intermerata et in eternum benedicta

fols. 41v - 43r:

1. Title: Stabat Mater
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Oratio de beata Virgine
4. Incipit: Stabat Mater dolorosa

fols. 43v - 48v:

1. Title: Prayer
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Oratio deuotissima ad dominum nostrum Ihesum Xpristum
4. Incipit: O dulcissime domine Ihesu Xpriste uere Dei Filius

fols. 48v - 50v:

1. Title: Seven Last Words of Christ
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Oratio septem verborum Ihesu Xpristi
4. Incipit: Domine Ihesu Xpriste qui septem verba

fols. 52v - 107r:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 52v, 76v, 81v, 85v, 90v, 94v, and 102v; historiated initial "D," fol. 53r

fols. 108v - 127v:

1. Title: Long Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 108v; historiated initial "D," fol. 109r

fols. 128v - 147r:

1. Title: Short Hours of the Cross
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Incipit: Domine Ihesu Xpriste qui nocturno tempore
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 128v; historiated initial "D," fol. 129r

fols. 148v - 161v:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Incipit: Domine ne in furore tuo
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 148v; historiated initial "D," fol. 149r

fols. 161v - 165v:

1. Title: Litany and one collect
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Rubric: Letania
4. Incipit: Kyrie eleison
5. Text note: Collect on fol. 165v: Protege domine famulos tuos subsidiis

fols. 166v - 211v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Artist: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg
3. Rubric: Incipiunt vigilie mortuorum
4. Incipit: Placebo domino
5. Text note: Use unidentified
6. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 166v; historiated initial "D," fol. 167r

fols. 213r - 223r:

1. Title: Suffrages
2. Artist: Style of Willem Vrelant
3. Rubric: Memoria de Sancto Johanne Baptista
4. Text note: Suffrages to SS. John the Baptist, James the Great, Christopher, Sebastian, Adrian, George, Ghislain, Catherine, Barbara, Apollonia, Margaret, and Anne
5. Decoration note: Historiated initials on fols. 213r, 213v, 214v, 215v, 216v, 217v, 218v, 221r, 222r, and 222v

fol. 16r:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: matins
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 23r:

1. 
2. Title: Madonna and Child enthroned
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 8 lines
4. Text: Mass of the Virgin: matins
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 34v:

1. 
2. Title: Lamentation
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 8 lines
4. Text: Obsecro te
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 52v:

1. 
2. Title: Betrayal
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: matins
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 53r:

1. 
2. Title: Madonna and Child in half-length, "clothed in the sun"
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 9 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: matins
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 76v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ before Pilate
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: prime
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 81v:

1. 
2. Title: Flagellation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: terce
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 85v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ carrying the Cross
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: sext
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 90v:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: none
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 94v:

1. 
2. Title: Deposition
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: vespers (disassociated from the incipit, which starts on fol. 93v)
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 102v:

1. 
2. Title: Entombment
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: compline (disassociated from the incipit, which starts on fol. 101v)
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 108v:

1. 
2. Title: Trinity
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: matins
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 109r:

1. 
2. Title: Pentecost
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 9 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: matins
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 128v:

1. 
2. Title: Man of Sorrows, surrounded by the Arma Christi
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: matins
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 129r:

1. 
2. Title: Nativity
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 9 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Cross: matins
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 148v:

1. 
2. Title: Last Judgement
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms: First Penitential Psalm
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 149r:

1. 
2. Title: Christ holding a globe and blessing
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 9 lines
4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms: First Penitential Psalm
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 166v:

1. 
2. Title: Funeral Mass
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Office of the Dead: vespers
5. Label: This miniature is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 167r:

1. 
2. Title: Three female souls in purgatory
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines
4. Text: Office of the Dead: vespers
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg.

fol. 213r:

1. 
2. Title: St. John the Baptist
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 213v:

1. 
2. Title: St. James Major
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 214v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Christopher
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 215v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Sebastian
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 216v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Adrian
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 217v:

1. 
2. Title: St. George
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 218v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Ghislain
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 219r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Catherine
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 220r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Barbara
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 221r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Apollonia
3. Form: Historiated initial "V," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 222r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Margaret
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

fol. 222v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read
3. Form: Historiated initial "C," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrage
5. Label: This historiated initial is illuminated in the style of Willem Vrelant.

The binding is original.

Bound in fifteenth-century Flanders (Bruges); black calfskin covering beech boards; blind panel-stamping laid out in two panels on both boards, each panel displaying two vine-scrolls in mirror image of each other containing a bird, a rabbit couchant, a cock, a deer couchant, and a pelican in piety; both panels surrounded by the inscription "Ora pro nobis sancta / Dei genitrix ut / digni efficamur promis / sione Xpristi"; between panels a smaller compartment composed of three stamps displaying a wivern couchant, St. Margaret emerging from the dragon, and a gryphon rampant; all edges gilt; indications of a central fastening, now a pair of late Gothic brass catch-and-strap clasps hinging from lower board

Created in two phases, with the original part made ca. 1430-35 and the second part made in the late fifteenth century; calendar for Utrecht suggests original site of production

Libraire Morgand no. 26084, nineteenth century

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 794, no. 235.

Byvanck, A. W. "Kroniek der Noord-Nederlandsche Miniaturen, III." Oudheidkundig Jaarboek, 4th series, 10 (1940): 36, figs. 12-14 (fols. 108v, 52v, and 53r).

Byvanck, A. W. De Middeleeuwsche Boekillustratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden. Antwerp: De Sikkel, 1943, pp. 29-31, figs. 21, 22 (fols. 52v, 53r).

Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art. Life of Christ Exhibition Catalog March-April, 1948. Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Athenaeum, 1948, p. 3, no. 182.

Walters Art Gallery. 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, no. 121, pl. L (fol. 108v).

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting, its Origins and Character. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953, p. 102, n. 4; p. 103, n. 4.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts Loan Exhibition November 25, 1953-January 9, 1954. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1954, no. 73 (fol. 76v).

Miner, Dorothy. "Dutch Illuminated Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery." Connoisseur Yearbook (1955): 74-5, fig. x (fol. 76v).

Diringer, David. The Illuminated Book. London, 1958, p. 443, pl. VII-31.

Rijksmuseum. Middeleeuwse Kunst der Noordelijke Nederlanden. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1958, no. 156, fig. 81.

Oberlin College. Spring Bulletin 1960, p. 104, no. 22; p. 107 (fol. 76v).

Hoogewerff, G. J. Gelderse miniatuurschildes in de eerste helft van de XVde eeuw. Oud Holland 76 (1961): 47, figs. 37, 38 (fols. 52v, 53r).

Kessler, Herbert L. A Book of Hours from the Atelier of Willem Vrelant. Scriptorium 18 (1964): 98, pl. 16a (fol. 215v).

Delaisse, L. M. J. A Century of Dutch Manuscript Illumination. California Studies in the History of Art 6. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968, pp. 26, 46, n. 84, figs. 36, 37 (fols. 52v, 76v).

Wieck, Roger S. Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. New York: George Braziller, 1988, pp. 127, 220-221, fig. 113 (fols. 166v-167r).

Marrow, James H., Henri L. M. Defoer, Anne S. Korteweg, and Wilhelmina C. M. Wüstefeld. The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting. New York: George Braziller, 1990, pp. 115-116, no. 37.

Fisher, Carol, and Kathleen L. Scott, eds. Art into Life: Collected Papers from the Kresge Art Museum Medieval Symposia. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1995, pp. 168-169 (fols. 166v, 167r).

Binski, Paul. Medieval Death: Ritual and Representation. London: British Museum Press, 1996, pl. 3 (fols. 166v-167r).

Ketelsen, Thomas, and Uta Neidhardt. Das Geheimnis des Jan van Eyck. Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2005, p. 92, Abb. 2 (fol. 52v).

Gottler, Christine. Last Things: Art and Religious Imagination in the Age of Reform. Proteus 2. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2010.

Principal cataloger: Marrow, James

Catalogers: Devine, Alex; Hedeman, Anne D.; Herbert, Lynley; Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934

Editor: Noel, William

Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Boot, Christine; Dutschke, Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Pizzinato, Riccardo; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

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