Walters Ms. W.439, Hours of Duke Adolph of Cleves

W.439

Hours of Duke Adolph of Cleves

Book of Hours

This Book of Hours was completed in the 1480s for Adolph, duke of Cleves, count of La Mack, lord of Ravenstein and Wijnendale (1425-92), and member of the entourage of the dukes of Burgundy until 1477 and thereafter in a position of personal trust under Archduke Maximilian, husband of Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482). The manuscript is highly illuminated and includes two portraits of Adolph of Ghent: a full-page miniature portraying the duke kneeling before a portrait of the Virgin and Child (fol. 13v), and a smaller portrait of Adolph revering the Virgin in an initial at the opening of a prayer to Mary (fol. 80v, "O beatissima virgo Maria"). The manuscript was likely made after the year 1470, when Adolph of Cleves married his second wife Anne of Burgundy (1441-1508). The presence of an inscription by Anne of Burgundy (fol. 71r: "A / B votre mieulx aimee / Anne") suggests that she may have commissioned the volume. A full-page illumination of Adolph of Cleves' heraldry includes the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, duke of Burgundy.

Ca. 1480-90 CE

Ghent

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin. The secondary language of this manuscript is French, Middle (ca.1400-1600).

Parchment

Well-selected and prepared medium-weight parchment; top border of fols. 1 and 2 are cut off

Foliation: i+302+i

Modern parchment flyleaves; modern pencil foliation upper right corners rectos (used here), a second set of foliation lower right corners rectos

Formula: Quire 1: 6 (fols. 1-6); Quire 2: 4 (fols. 7-10); Quire 3: 2 (fols. 11-12); Quire 4: 8, with first and second folios added (fols. 13-22); Quires 5-6: 6 (fols. 23-34); Quires 7-11: 8 (fols. 35-74); Quires 12-13: 6 (fols. 75-86); Quire 14: 8 (fols. 87-94); Quire 15: 4 (fols. 95-98); Quire 16: 8, with first folio added (fols. 99-107); Quire 17: 8 (fols. 108-115); Quire 18: 4 (fols. 116-119); Quires 19-28: 8 (fols. 120-199); Quire 29: 4 (fols. 200-203); Quire 30: 6, with first folio added (fols. 204-210); Quire 31: 6 (fols. 211-216); Quires 32-36: 8 (fols. 217-256); Quire 37: 8, with added folio after fol. 256, possibly affixed by re-binder (fols. 257-264); Quires 38-41: 8 (fols. 265-296); Quire 42: 6 (fols. 297-302)

Catchwords: Some catchwords set at lower right of the first rectos of quire citing syllables of word at the end of the last line on the facing folios; modern quire numbers (2-42) penciled at lower left of the first recto of quires beginning on fol. 7

Comments:

11.7 cm wide by 16.9 cm high

6.0 cm wide by 9.4 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 12
3. Layout does not apply to calendar: 7.2 cm x 9.5 cm (written surface), 3 columns, 17 lines

fols. 1r - 302v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Rubric: Oratio de Maria Domina
3. Incipit: Obescro te
4. Hand note: Burgundian bâtard
5. Decoration note: Two full-page miniatures facing each other at the opening of the book; four full-page miniatures with decorated margins on three sides and facing opening pages of text with matching decorated margins; five large miniatures with historiated and decorated margins above and below the textblock; eighteen historiated initials (6-8 lines); light blue and white initials (1-4 lines) against red ground mark the secondary text divisions; geometric line fillers in red and white; rubrics and major feasts days in red; text in black ink

fols. 1r - 12v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Januarius xxxi. luna xxx.
3. Contents: Calendar sparsely filled, graded in red and brown, with feast on May 19 for Hadulf uniquely combining two colors; Latin with occasional French; Egyptian days designated with a "D"; contains saints related to Arras and associated with the Dominican order; Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 28), Agnes (Jan. 29), Thomas Aquinas (Mar. 7), Peter martyr (Apr. 29), Michael (May 8), Nicholas (May 9), Servatius (May 14), Hadulf (May 19), Dominic (May 24), Medard and Gildard (June 8), Vedast (July 15), James the Greater and Christopher (July 24), Anne (July 25), Martha (July 26), Dominic (Aug. 5), Louis of France (Aug. 25), Rufus (Aug. 27), Hadulf (Aug. 3), Maurice (Sept. 20), Remigius (Oct. 1), Dionysius (Oct. 9), Edward (Oct. 13), Nicholas (Dec. 6, termed Micolay), early addition: Agatha (May 11)

fols. 13v - 51r:

1. Title: Devotions to the Virgin
2. Rubric: Oratio de Maria domina
3. Incipit: Obsecro te
4. Contents: Fols. 15r-22r: Obescro te; fols. 23r-27v: O intemerata; fols. 28r-31v: Prayer on the sorrow of the Virgin by the cross, rhyming; followed by five prayers, third rhyming; fols. 31v-32v: Alma redemptoris; fols. 32v-33v: O Domina glorie regina; fols. 33v-37v: Ave mundi spes maria; fols. 37v-38v: O piissima domina; fols. 40r-44r: Five joys of the Virgin; fols. 44r-49r: Four prayers to the Virgin; fols. 49r-51r: Two prayers to Christ (fol. 49r-v: Benignissime Domine, fols. 49v-51r: O bone Ihesu)
5. Decoration note: Five full-page illuminations on fols. 13v, 14r, 14v, 22v, 28r, and 40r; three large decorated initials with ornate borders

fols. 51v - 87v:

1. Title: Suffrages and prayers
2. Rubric: De sancto Glaudio
3. Incipit: O desolatorum consolator
4. Contents: Suffrages: fols. 51v-54r: Claudius: O desolatorum concolator. . .; fols. 54r-57r: Sebastian: O sancte sebastiane. . .; fols. 57r-58v: Adrian: Ave sancte Adriane. . .; fols. 59r-60v: Anthony: Vox de celo facta est. . .; fols. 60v-62v: Michael: Michael archangele veni adiutorio. . .; fols. 62v-63v: George: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus. . .; fols. 63v-65r: Nicholas: De sancto Nicholas. . .; fols. 65rv: Christopher: Deus qui beatum xristoforum. . .; fols. 65v-70r: Erasmus: Sancte Erasme martir. . .; fols. 70r-71r: Anne: De sancta Anna a[n]t[iphona]. . .; fols. 71v-72v: Margaret: De sancta Margareta veni sponsa xristi. . .; fols. 72r-74r: Catherine: Ave gemma claritatis. . .; fols. 74r-75v: Barbara: Ave martir Barbara. . .; fols. 75v-78r: Prayer to God, used to combat the power of devil in accordance with the revelation to st. Augustine: Oracio multum bona. . .; fols. 78r-80r: Prayer to Christ: Domine Ihesu xriste. . .; fols. 80r-87v: Four prayers to the Virgin
5. Decoration note: Fifteen historiated initials with ornate borders on fols. 51v, 54r, 58r, 59r, 60v, 62v, 64r, 65r, 69v, 70v, 72r, 73v, 75r, 76r, and 80v

fols. 88r - 98v:

1. Title: Gospel Sequences
2. Rubric: Initium sancti evangelii secundum Iohannem Gloria tibi domine
3. Incipit: In principio erat verbum
4. Contents: Readings from the four Gospels: John 1:1-14, Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 1:26-38, Mark 16:14-20
5. Decoration note: Five historiated initials with ornate borders on fols. 80v, 88r, 90v, 94r, and 97r

fols. 99v - 203v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin for Dominican Use
2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore beatissime dei genitricis et virginis Marie In primis dicitur
3. Incipit: Ave Maria gracia plena
4. Contents: Instructions in French for the recitation of the texts throughout the liturgical year
5. Decoration note: Eight full-page illuminations on fols. 99v, 121r, 145v, 153r, 161v, 168v, 176r, and 194r; decorated initials with borders on fol. 100r

fols. 204v - 245v:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Incipit: Domine ne in furore
3. Contents: Fols. 205r-225r: Seven Penitential Psalms; fols. 226r: Litany, including Dominican and North French saints; SS. John the Evangelist and Philip (the names of the patron's ancestor and son); Cornelius, Dionysius, Thomas Becket, Peter Martyr, Gregory, George, Nicasius; Nicholas, Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, Francis, Benedict, Anthony, Bernard, Louis, and Vedast
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature on fol. 204v

fols. 246r - 295v:

1. Title: Devotional Sequence
2. Rubric: Passio Domini nostri Ihu Xpi secundum Iohannem
3. Incipit: In illo tempore
4. Contents: Fols. 246r-266r: Passion according to John; fols. 266v-278r: Prayer on the Seven Last Words of Our Lord; fols. 278r-283r: Two prayers to the Virgin; fols. 283r-288v: Prayer to God; fols. 289r-294r: Prayer to the Trinity; fols. 294r-295r: Hymn in praise of the Virgin; fol. 295r-v: Prayer to God
5. Decoration note: Historiated initials with foliate and figurative decorations in the margins on fols. 246r, 266v, and 289r

fols. 295v - 302v:

1. Title: Devotional Sequence, added early
2. Rubric: Oroison a monseigneur
3. Contents: Fols. 295v-297r: Suffrages to SS. Andrew and Jerome; fols. 298r-300r: Seven Verses of St. Gregory; fols. 300r-302r: Prayer to God for remission of sins
4. Decoration note: Historiated initial with foliate borders on fol. 298r

fol. 13v:

1. 
2. Title: Patronage portrait of Adolph of Cleves
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Obescro te
5. Comment:

   Owner's motto: "plus quonques mes" on scroll around a flagpole; the motto is repeated at lower margin; entwined letters "A E" repeated along three vertical blue rods against rose curtain at back

fol. 14r:

1. 
2. Title: Virgin Lactans
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Obsecro te

fol. 14v:

1. 
2. Title: Armorial shield of Adolph of Cleves wearing the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Obsecro te
5. Comment:

   Owner's motto "plus quon[que] mes" inscribed in scroll around pole

fol. 22v:

1. 
2. Title: Pietà
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: O Intemerata

fol. 28r:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion, with marginal scenes of the Passion of Christ
3. Form: Large miniature with historiated border
4. Text: Stabat Mater

fol. 40r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "G" with the Annunciation
3. Form: Historiated initial "G," 5 lines
4. Text: Five Joys of the Virgin

fol. 51v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with St. Claudius
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 5 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Claudius

fol. 54r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with St. Sebastian
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 5 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Sebastian

fol. 58r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with St. Adrian
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 5 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Adrian

fol. 59r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "V" with St. Anthony
3. Form: Historiated initial "V," 6 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Anthony

fol. 60v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "M" with St. Michael
3. Form: Historiated initial "M," 6 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Michael

fol. 62v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with St. George
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 7 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. George

fol. 64r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Nicholas; jewels displayed in margin
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines, and historiated margin
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Nicholas

fol. 65r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Christopher
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Christopher

fol. 69v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "A" with St. Erasmus
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 7 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Erasmus

fol. 70v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Anne
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 4 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Anne

fol. 71r:

1. 
2. Title: Signed inscription by Anne of Burgundy
3. Form: Inscription
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Anne
5. Comment:

   "A / B Votre mieulx amie / Anne"

fol. 72r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Margaret
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Margaret

fol. 73v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Catherine
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Catherine

fol. 75r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Barbara
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Barbara

fol. 76r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with St. Augustine
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: St. Augustine

fol. 80v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with manuscript owner Adolph of Cleves revering the Virgin of Humility and Child
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 8 lines
4. Text: Prayer to the Virgin: O beatissima

fol. 88r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "I" with St. John on Patmos
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 7 lines
4. Text: John 1:1

fol. 90v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "C" with the Evangelist Matthew writing on a scroll
3. Form: Historiated initial "C," 3 lines
4. Text: Matthew 1:1

fol. 94r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "I" with the Evangelist Luke writing on a folio
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 6 lines
4. Text: Luke 1:1

fol. 97r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "I" with the Evangelist Mark writing on a folio
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 6 lines
4. Text: Mark 1:1

fol. 99v:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Matins

fol. 121r:

1. 
2. Title: Visitation
3. Form: Large miniature with border
4. Text: Lauds

fol. 145v:

1. 
2. Title: Nativity
3. Form: Large miniature with border
4. Text: Prime

fol. 153r:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation to the shepherds
3. Form: Large miniature with border
4. Text: Terce

fol. 161v:

1. 
2. Title: Presentation in the Temple
3. Form: Large miniature with border
4. Text: Sext

fol. 168v:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Large miniature with border
4. Text: None

fol. 176r:

1. 
2. Title: Massacre of the Innocents
3. Form: Large miniature with borders
4. Text: Vespers

fol. 194r:

1. 
2. Title: Flight into Egypt; miracle of the wheat field; fall of the idols
3. Form: Large miniature with borders
4. Text: Compline

fol. 204v:

1. 
2. Title: King David penitent
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Penitential Psalms

fol. 246r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "I" with the Man of Sorrows; instruments of the Passion
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 6 lines with borders
4. Text: Passion according to John

fol. 266v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the Crucifixion
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines with borders
4. Text: Prayer on the Seven Last Words

fol. 289r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "U" with the Trinity
3. Form: Historiated initial "U," 8 lines with borders
4. Text: Prayer to the Trinity

fol. 298r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the Mass of St. Gregory: Man of Sorrows and Instruments of the Passion
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines
4. Text: Seven Verses of St. Gregory

The binding is not original.

Central brown calf panels made in Belgium in the sixteenth or seventeenth century; two blind-tooled panels per side decorated with angel musicians in roundels; border inscription reads: "in conspectu angelor[um] / psallam tibi domine et aborabo / ad templum sanctu[m] / tuu[m] et confitebor nomini tuo"; modern olive-brown leather components of binding made by Léon Gruel ca. 1900; modern sewing on five bands

Created in Ghent in the 1480s for Adolph, Duke of Cleves, count of La Marck, lord of Ravenstein and Wijnendale (1425-92) (fols. 13v, 14v and 58r: arms of three members of the family of Cleves (Engelbert, Catherine of Cleves' nephew, Adolph, and his son Philip); fol. 13v: portrait of Adolph of Cleves wearing the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Adolph was the only one of the three members of the family who became a knight of the order); fol. 80v: initial with another portrait of Adolph of Cleves; fol. 71r, lower margin: entry by Anne of Burgundy, second wife of Adolph of Cleves: "A B / votre mieulx aimee / Anne"

Léon Gruel, Paris, late nineteenth-early twentieth century (Gruel and Engelmann bookplate on upper board inside)

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

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

Sam Fogg, Cat. 14. London: 1901; ref. under no. 28.

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. 805, cat. no. 307.

Miner, D. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: 1949; no. 130.

Van Damme, J. "Adolf van Kleef en van Mark, Heer van Ravenstein in Dienst van de Bourgondische Politiek," Ph.D. diss., Catholic University of Louvain, 1967; pp. 258-265.

Gorissen, F. Das Stundenbuch der Katharina von Kleve: Analyse und Kommentar. Berlin: 1973; p. 743.

Bowles, E. A. "A Checklist of Musical Instruments in Fifteenth-Century Illuminated Manuscripts at the Walters Art Gallery," Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 32/4 (1976): pp. 722, 723, 726.

Canby, J. V., D. M. Buitron, A. Oliver Jr., R. H. Randall, Jr., D. Scarisbrick, and W. R. Johnston. Jewelry: Ancient to Modern. New York: The Viking Press in cooperation with the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1979; p. 165, color illus.

Randall, Lilian M. C. "Jewels as Ornaments in Books." In The Walters Art Gallery Bulletin 12 (1979): pp. 7-8, p. 8, fig. 2 (fol. 64r).

Randall, L. M. C. Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature, Highlights from the Collection of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Baltimore: 1984; pl. 30.

Lightbrown, R. W. "Venerable Beads," Bond St. Magazine (1987): p. 16, color illus.

Owens, M. B. "Musical Subjects in the Illumination of Books of Hours from Fifteenth-Century France and Flanders," Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1987; p. 478.

Wieck, Roger S. "Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours." In The Walters Art Gallery Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 4 (1988): cover, pp. 1-5, p. 1 (detail of fol. 13v).

Wieck, Roger S. Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. New York: George Braziller, 1988; p. 34, fig. 5 (fol.13v), p. 117, fig. 97 (fol. 69v).

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. 423-436 (ref. under cat. no. 281, W.439).

Crossley-Holland, N. A Fifteenth-Century Franciscan French Office: Translation and Commentary of the Hours of the Passion. Medieval Studies 4 (Lewiston/Queenston, 1991): pp. 140-141, 145, 191.

Crossley-Holland, N. Medieval European Jewellery with a Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: 1992; pp. 52-53.

Tolley, Thomas S. “Hugo van der Goes’s Altarpiece for Trinity College Church in Edinburgh and Mary of Guelders, Queen of Scotland.” In Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of St. Andrews. Edited by John Higgitt, 213-231. Leeds: British Archaeological Association, 1994; p. 216.

Brinkmann, Bodo. Die Flamische Buchmalerei Am Ende Des Burgunderreichs. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997; p. 347f.

Sponsler, Claire. Drama and Resistance: Bodies, Goods, and Theatricality in Late Medieval England. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1997; pp. 128, 191 (n. 40).

Pearson, Andrea. Envisioning Gender in Burgundian Devotional Art, 1350-1530. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005; fig. 26 (fol. 13v)

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.

Campbell, Marian. Medieval Jewelry in Europe (1100-1500). London: V&A Publishing, 2009; p. 22.

Brinkmann, Bodo. Der Codex Rotundus: Vollständige Facsimile-Ausgabe der Handschrift Hs 728, Domsbibliothek Hildesheim. Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 2012; p. 133, pl. 11 (fols. 13v-14r)

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Valle, Chiara

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Wallace, Susan

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Brown, Emily; Emery, Doug; Herbold, Rebekah; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara; Wiegand, Kimber

The Walters Art Museum

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