Walters Ms. W.188, Book of Hours in Dutch

W.188

Book of Hours in Dutch

Book of Hours

Authority name: Grote, Geert, 1340-1384

Note: Translator

This illuminated Book of Hours was produced in the second quarter of the fifteenth century. It is written in the Netherlandish translation of Geert Grote. Although lacking in full-page miniatures, the manuscript contains eighteen historiated initials by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg with ornamental initials and decoration throughout.

Second quarter of the 15th century CE

Utrecht

Supplied name: Masters of Zweder van Culemborg

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Dutch; Flemish.

Parchment

Thin to medium cream parchment with a fine nap surface

Foliation: i+256+i

Modern pencil foliation in lower right corners (followed here); pencil foliation in upper right corners, partially erased

Formula: i, 1(4,-1), 2-3(6), 4-11(8), 12(10,-1), 13-18(8), 19(4), 20-33(8), 34(4), i

Catchwords: None

Signatures: None

Comments: Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 4(2), 10(3), 16(4), 24(5), 32(6), 40(7), 48(8), 56(9), 64(10), 72(11), 80(12), 89(13), 97(14), 105(15), 113(16), 121(17), 129(18), 137(19), 141(20), 149(21), 157(22), 165(23), 173(24), 181(25), 189(26), 197(27), 205(28), 213(29), 221(30), 229(31), 237(32), 245(33), 253(34)

10.2 cm wide by 14.4 cm high

5.3 cm wide by 8.4 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 14

fols. 1r - 256v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Hand note: Written in Gothic bookhand (textura quadrata)
3. Decoration note: Eighteen historiated initials by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg; no full-page miniatures, although what appear to be the impression of a former stub after fol. 96 (end of gathering 8) and slice marks in the gutter after fol. 174 suggesting inserted full-page miniatures, now removed, before fols. 89 and 175, with others possibly originally facing fols. 16r, 122r, and 141r; ornamental initials throughout (1 to 8 lines high); capitals stroked in red; folios with historiated initials have baguettes along the outer side of the text column and borders as well as inner margins with floral decoration

fols. 1r - 3r:

1. Title: Computistical tables for the years [cccc]xxxv-[ccccc]xvi (1435-1516)
2. Text note: Easter tables

fols. 4r - 15v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Text note: Calendar for Use of Utrecht; full, graded red and black; entries include Victoer martelaer (October 10)

fols. 16r - 88r:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Incipit: Here du salte opdoen mine lippen
3. Decoration note: Historiated initials on fols. 16r, 31v, 47v, 53r, 59r, 65r, 71r, and 81v following the Passion cycle sequence for the Hours of the Virgin

fols. 89r - 121v:

1. Title: Short Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Incipit: O Here du salte opdoen myn lippen
3. Decoration note: Historiated initials on fols. 89r, 96r, 100r, 104r, 108r, 112r, and 117v

fols. 121v - 140v:

1. Title: Short Hours of the Holy Cross
2. Rubric: Hier beghint dat corte cruus ghetide
3. Incipit: O Here du salte opdoen mine lippen
4. Decoration note: Historiated initial on fol. 122r

fols. 141r - 174v:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms and litany
2. Incipit: Here in dynre verboghenheit en straffe
3. Decoration note: Historiated initials on fols. 141r and 175r

fols. 175r - 256v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead and the Minor Office
2. Rubric: Hier beghint die vighelie in duutsche
3. Incipit: Mi hebben ombevanghen die suchten des doets
4. Text note: Minor Office begins on fol. 248v
5. Decoration note: Historiated initial on fol. 175r

fol. 16r:

1. 
2. Title: Arrest of Christ
3. Form: Historiated initial "H," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins

fol. 31v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ crowned with thorns
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Lauds

fol. 47r:

1. 
2. Title: Christ before Pilate
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime

fol. 53r:

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

fol. 59r:

1. 
2. Title: Christ carrying the cross
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext

fol. 65r:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 71r:

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

fol. 81v:

1. 
2. Title: Entombment
3. Form: Historiated initial "B," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 89r:

1. 
2. Title: Trinity
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: Matins

fol. 96r:

1. 
2. Title: Visitation
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: Prime

fol. 100r:

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

fol. 104r:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation to the shepherds
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: Sext

fol. 108r:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: None

fol. 112r:

1. 
2. Title: Flight into Egypt
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: Vespers

fol. 117v:

1. 
2. Title: Presentation in the temple
3. Form: Historiated initial "B," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: Compline

fol. 122r:

1. 
2. Title: Harrowing of hell
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 8 lines
4. Text: Short Hours of the Holy Cross

fol. 141r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Michael with scales
3. Form: Historiated initial "H," 7 lines
4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms

fol. 175r:

1. 
2. Title: Two souls kneel in prayer in purgatory
3. Form: Historiated initial "M," 7 lines
4. Text: Office of the Dead

The binding is not original.

Bound by Gruel and Engelmann, late nineteenth / early twentieth century; red-brown velvet over millboard, sewn on five recessed cords; all edges gilt

Made for anonymous patrons in the second quarter of the fifteenth century

Melchior Parsoens (ink signature, outer margin, fol. 4r)

Gruel and Engelmann, collection no. 94, Paris (bookplate, front pastedown)

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel and Engelmann, Paris, June 9, 1903

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. 791, no. 216.

Byvanck, A. W. "Kroniek der Noord-Nederlandsche Miniaturen. 3." Oudheidkundig Jaarboek, 4th series, 9 (1940): 36, fig. 17 (fol. 122).

Sterling, Charles [Charles Jacques, pseud.]. La peinture française: les peintres du moyen âge. Paris: P. Tisné, 1941, p. 78, no. 10.

Byvanck, A. W. De middeleeuwsche boekillustratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden. Antwerp: De Sikkel, 1943, pp. 27-28, figs. 19-22.

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. 122.

Boström, K. "Un livre d'heures d'Utrecht au Musée National à Stockholm." Nordisk Tidskrift för Bok- och Biblioteksväsen 38 (1951): p. 162, no. 1.

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character. Vol. 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953, p. 102, note 4.

Miner, Dorothy. Dutch Illuminated Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Connoisseur Yearbook (1955): 66-77, fig. 11.

Diringer, David. The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production. 2nd ed. New York: Praeger, 1967, p. 448, pl. 7-31b.

Gorissen, Friedrich. Das Stundenbuch der Katharina von Kleve. Berlin: G. Mann, 1973.

Boot, C. "Medieval Netherlandic Manuscripts in Libraries in the State of Maryland." Archief- en bibliotheekwezen in België 56 (1985): 257-294.

Wieck, Roger S. Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. New York: George Braziller, 1988, pp. 68-69, 220, fig. 50 (fol. 71r).

Principal cataloger: Marrow, James

Catalogers: Devine, Alex; Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934

Editors: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William

Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Dutschke, Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-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.