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Walters Ms. W.246, Book of Hours

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Shelf mark

W.246


Manuscript

Book of Hours


Text title
Book of Hours

Abstract

This Book of Hours was made in Bruges in the middle of the fifteenth century. The place of origin is suggested by the saints in the Calendar, such as SS. Amandus and Vedast. The manuscript is highly illuminated, containing a full-page miniature at the beginning of each of the Hours. Style and compositions are comparable with Flemish manuscripts known as the "Golden Scrolls" group; some books of this group are preserved at the University of Chicago (Ms 344), and the Bibliothèque Royale of Brussels (Ms 9798). The manuscript is notable for its unusual iconography, such as the Annunciation with God the Father in the Hours of the Virgin, and a Last Judgment image in which Christ as Judge is flanked by John and the Virgin showing her breast.


Date

1440-50


Origin

Bruges


Form

Book


Genre

Devotional


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.


Support material

Parchment

Thin to medium-weight, well-prepared parchment; slightly thicker for illuminated folios


Extent

Foliation: i+148+i

Flyleaves are modern parchment conjoint with facing pastedown; first and last two folios are left blank; modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos


Collation

Formula: Quire 1: 2 (fols. 1-2); Quire 2: 6, with seventh folio added (fols. 3-9); Quire 3: 4, with fourth folio added (fols. 10-14); Quire 4: 4, with first, third, and fifth folios added, original second folio (after fol. fol. 16) cancelled(?) (fols. 15-20); Quire 5: 2, with first and third folios added (fols. 21-24); Quire 6: 8, with first, third, fifth, and ninth folios added (fols. 25-36); Quire 7: 4, with fifth folio added (fols. 37-41); Quire 8: 6, with fourth and eighth folios added (fols. 42-49); Quire 9: 8, with seventh folio added (fols. 50-58); Quire 10: 8, with seventh folio added (fols. 59-67); Quire 11: 6, with third, sixth, and ninth folios added (fols. 68-76); Quire 12: 12, with 3 folios cancelled after fol. 84, first and sixth folios added (fols. 77-87); Quire 13: 8, with first folio added (fols. 88-96); Quire 14: 8 (fols. 97-104); Quire 15: 8, with first folio added (fols. 105-113); Quire 16: 8 (fols. 114-121); Quire 17: 6 (fols. 122-127); Quire 18: 8, with first folio added (fols. 128-136); Quire 19: 4 (fols. 137-140); Quire 20: 8 (fols. 141-148)

Catchwords: Fragments of catchwords on fols. 24v and 67v; modern pencil arabic numbers from quire 1 to 20 on lower corners, rectos

Comments:


Dimensions

13.5 cm wide by 18.0 cm high


Written surface

5.7 cm wide by 9.0 cm high


Layout
  1. Columns: 1
  2. Ruled lines: 18
  3. Layout does not apply to calendar; written surface: 6.3 cm wide by 11.0 cm high; 4 columns of 33 lines

Contents:
fols. 3r - 147v:
  1. Title: Book of Hours
  2. Contents: Use of Rome
  3. Hand note: Textura
  4. Decoration note: Twenty-four inserted full-page miniatures; decorated initials at text openings opposite full-page miniatures (5 lines) and at secondary text openings (2 lines); gold and blue versals altenrately throughout the text; floral borders around full-page miniatures and text openings on opposite folios; marginalia limited to a few types of birds including peacock and rooster generally centered below miniature and at fore-edge on facing rectos; line fillers in litany; rubrics in red; 'amen' or other word at end of a text occasionally underlined or crossed in red; text in dark brown and black ink
fols. 3r - 8v:
  1. Title: Calendar
  2. Contents: Less than a half-filled on average; graded in red and brown with red-stroked capitals; contents include highly irregular dates and numerous Bruges feasts; feasts of note include: Amandus and Vedast (Feb. 6), David (Mar. 1, uncommon), Annunciation (Mar. 18, regularly Mar. 25), Benedict (Mar. 21), Peter martyr (Apr. 29), Sophia (May 15), Basil (Jun. 14), Eligius (Jun. 25, Translation), Benedict (Jul. 2, Commemoration), Praxedis (Jul. 20, regularly Jul. 21), Christina (Jul. 23, regularly Jul. 24), Dominic (Aug. 6, regularly Aug. 5), Aegydius (Sep. 1), Remigius and Bavo (Oct. 1), Francis (Oct. 4), Dionysius (Oct. 9), Donatian (Oct. 14), Gallus (Oct. 16), Crispinus and Crispinianus (Oct. 26, regularly Oct. 25), Leonard (Nov. 6), Eligius (Dec. 1), Nicasius (Dec. 14), Lazarus (Dec. 17)
fols. 9v - 12r:
  1. Title: Hours of the Holy Trinity
  2. Rubric: Hore de Sancta Trinitate. Ad matutinas.
  3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
  4. Decoration note: Full-page illumination at the opening of the Hours and facing foliate borders
fols. 13v - 28v:
  1. Title: Hours of the Cross
  2. Contents: Fols. 14r-v: Prefatory prayers to the Hours of the Cross; fols. 16r-28v: Hours of the Cross (fols. 16r-v: Matins; fols. 18r-v: Prime; fols. 20r-v: Terce; fols. 22r-v: Sext; fols. 24r-v: None; fols. 26r-v: Vespers; fols. 28r-v: Compline)
  3. Decoration note: Five full-page illuminations with facing foliate borders at the beginning of the prayer and each hour
fols. 27v - 32r:
  1. Title: Hours of the Holy Spirit
  2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore de Sancto Spiritu ad matutinas.
  3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
  4. Decoration note: Two full-page illuminations with facing foliate borders
fols. 33v - 40v:
  1. Title: Mass of the Virgin
  2. Rubric: Officium misse beate Marie Virginis
  3. Incipit: Introibo ad altare Dei
  4. Decoration note: Full-page illumination with facing foliate borders
fols. 41v - 44r:
  1. Title: Mass of the Holy Sacrament
  2. Rubric: Officium missa de. Sacramento.
  3. Incipit: Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti
  4. Decoration note: Full-page illumination with facing foliate borders
fols. 45v - 48r:
  1. Title: Mass of the Ascension
  2. Rubric: In festo ascensionis Domini ad missam
  3. Incipit: Viri galilei qui ammiramini aspicientes
  4. Decoration note: Full-page illumination with facing foliate borders
fols. 49v - 87v:
  1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
  2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore beate Marie Virginis secundum consuetudinem romane ecclesie.
  3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
  4. Contents: Fols. 58r-65v: Lauds; fols. 67r-69v: Prime; fols. 71r-72v: Terce; fols. 74r-75v: Sext; fols. 77r-78v: None; fols. 80r-83v: Vespers; fols. 85r-87v: Compline
  5. Decoration note: Eight full-page illuminations with facing foliate borders
fols. 88v - 104v:
  1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms, litany, and collects
  2. Rubric: Incipit orationes septem psalmi.
  3. Incipit: Suscipe Domine Sancte Pater Omnipotens
  4. Contents: Fols. 89r-100r: Seven Penitential Psalms; fols. 100r-104v: Litany, including Flemish saints, e.g. fifteen apostles/evangelists/disciples; twenty-three martyrs inclduing Cornelius, Eligius, Lupus, Amandus, Donatus, Blasius; eight doctors including Nicholas and Louis; six confessors, namely Bernard, Leonard, Francis, Eligius, Aegydius, Dominic; sixteen virgins including Mary Magdalene, Mary Egyptian, Clare, Anne, Amalberga, Julian, Elizabeth, Ursula, Martha; fols. 102v-104r: Petitions, invocations; fols. 104r-v: Three collects
  5. Decoration note: Full-page illumination with facing foliate borders
fols. 105v - 127v:
  1. Title: Office of the Dead
  2. Rubric: Incipiunt vigilie mortuorum. Antiphona
  3. Incipit: Placebo Domino
  4. Decoration note: Full-page illumination with facing foliate borders
fols. 128v - 147v:
  1. Title: Devotional sequence
  2. Rubric: Incipiunt psalterium sancti Ieronimi doctoris.
  3. Incipit: Verba mea auribus percipe Domine
  4. Contents: Fols. 129r-141r: Psalter of St. Jerome; fols: 141r-147v: Suffrages: fol. 141r: to the Trinity; fol. 141v: Michael; fol. 142r: John the Baptist; fol. 142r: Peter and Paul; fol. 142v: Andrew; fol. 142v: John the Evangelist; fol. 143v: James the Greater; fol. 144r: Lawrence; fol. 144r: Christopher; fol. 145r: Martin; fol. 145r: Nicholas; fol. 145v: Dominic; fol. 146r: Anne; fol. 146v: Mary Magdalene; fol. 147r: Catherine; fol. 147r: Margaret; fol. 147v: all saints)
  5. Decoration note: Full-page illumination with facing foliate borders

Decoration:

fol. 9v:

  1. W.246, fol. 9v
  2. Title: Throne of Grace
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Holy Trinity: Matins

fol. 13v:

  1. W.246, fol. 13v
  2. Title: Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Prayer

fol. 15v:

  1. W.246, fol. 15v
  2. Title: Betrayal and Arrest of Christ
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Matins

fol. 17v:

  1. W.246, fol. 17v
  2. Title: Christ before Pilate
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Prime

fol. 19v:

  1. W.246, fol. 19v
  2. Title: Flagellation
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Flagellation

fol. 21v:

  1. W.246, fol. 21v
  2. Title: Christ carrying the Cross
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Sext

fol. 23v:

  1. W.246, fol. 23v
  2. Title: Crucifixion
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: None

fol. 25v:

  1. W.246, fol. 25v
  2. Title: Deposition
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Vespers

fol. 27v:

  1. W.246, fol. 27v
  2. Title: Entombment
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Cross: Compline

fol. 29v:

  1. W.246, fol. 29v
  2. Title: Pentecost
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit: Matins

fol. 33v:

  1. W.246, fol. 33v
  2. Title: Virgin and Child, two angels hold crown overhead
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Mass of the Virgin

fol. 41v:

  1. W.246, fol. 41v
  2. Title: Last Supper
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Mass of the Holy Sacrament

fol. 45v:

  1. W.246, fol. 45v
  2. Title: Ascension
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Mass of the Ascension

fol. 49v:

  1. W.246, fol. 49v
  2. Title: Annunciation
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins

fol. 57v:

  1. W.246, fol. 57v
  2. Title: Visitation
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Lauds

fol. 66v:

  1. W.246, fol. 66v
  2. Title: Holy Family
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime

fol. 70v:

  1. W.246, fol. 70v
  2. Title: Annunciation to Shepherds
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Terce

fol. 73v:

  1. W.246, fol. 73v
  2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext

fol. 76v:

  1. W.246, fol. 76v
  2. Title: Presentation in the Temple
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 79v:

  1. W.246, fol. 79v
  2. Title: Massacre of an Innocent
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Vespers

fol. 84v:

  1. W.246, fol. 84v
  2. Title: Flight into Egypt
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 88v:

  1. W.246, fol. 88v
  2. Title: Last Judgment
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms

fol. 105v:

  1. W.246, fol. 105v
  2. Title: Funeral Service
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Office of the Dead

fol. 128v:

  1. W.246, fol. 128v
  2. Title: St. Jerome in the Study
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Devotional sequence: Psalter of St. Jerome

Binding

The binding is not original.

French late-nineteenth early-twentieth century crimson velvet over wooden boards; sewn on five recessed cords; at least two previous sewings; rounded spine; re-gilt edges; leather fore-edge tabs at illuminated folios


Provenance

Made in Bruges, ca. 1440-50, for Use of Rome; Bruges feasts in calendar for SS. Amandus and Vedast

Léon Gruel, Paris, bookbinder and bookseller, late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century; Gruel bookplate on front pastedown inscribed "No. 85"

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel between 1895 and 1931


Acquisition

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest


Bibliography

De Ricci, S., 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. 792, no. 225.

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953; p. 122.

Kessler, Herbert L. French and Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts from Chicago Collections. Exhibition Catalogue. Chicago: Newberry Library, 1969; ref. under cat. nos. 3, 4.

Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death: The Arts, Religion, and Society in the Mid-Fourtheenth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978; p. 143.

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

Farquhar, James Douglas. "Manuscript Production and Evidence for Localizing and Dating Fifteenth-Century Books of Hours: Walters MS 239." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 45 (1987): 44-88; p. 56.

Owens, M. B. "Musical Subjects in the Illumination of Books of Hours from Fifteenth-Century France and Flanders." 2 vols. Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1987; p. 429.

Wieck, Roger Seymour. Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. Exhibition Catalogue. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery. NY: George Braziller, 1988; pp. 39, 97, 212, cat. no. 90, fig. 64.

Arnould, Alain, and Jean Michel Massing. Splendors of Flanders. Exhibition Catalogue. Fitzwilliam Museum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993; p. 124, ref. under cat. no. 37.

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Part 1. Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 163-169, cat. no. 236.

Fliegel, Stephen. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999; p. 47, cat. no. 44.


Contributors

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

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


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

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.