Language
Origin
Flanders, Netherlands;
Bruges;
Utrecht, 15th century, later half
Physical description
Format: Non digital + Digital, reformatted digital
- Script: Gothic book-hand. One hand. Rubricated.
- Collation: Original collation destroyed when the manuscript was rebound in the 19th century.
- Foliation: Foliated in pencil by modern cataloguer in upper right corner.
- Columns: 1
- Lines: 17
Notes
Related records in Alvin
See specifically described parts (4)
Book binding
Binding: Blind-tooled wine coloured fine grain goatskin binding; France (?) later half of the 19th century, flyleaf with date 1860. Rebacked, 20th century. Size: 160 x 125 x 68 mm.
Wine coloured fine grain goatskin binding over bevelled wooden boards with 20th century rebacking. Two engraved metal hook-clasp fastenings at fore-edge. Rounded spine. Hollow back with four false bands. Gilt title: Livres d'Heures , in second compartment and gilt date: XIVme siècle , at tail compartment of the back. Multicoloured stuck-on endbands. Edges gilt. Plain single flyleaves, made flyleaves and pastedowns of marbled paper. Wine coloured leather hinges. Green tassel. All along sewing on four cords.
The covers are blind-tooled into a large frame of multiple fillets and a repeated rectangular ornament in neo-gothic style, corner compartments with tooled angels. The central panel is divided into ogival compartments by a blind fillet and a stamp in renaissance style. The back is blind-tooled into four triple fillets panels with centre and corner stamps in 18th century style and two panels lettered in gilt.
Decoration
Five full-page illuminations (ff. 60v, 76v, 277v, 304v, 315r and offprint from two more on ff. 69r, 262r); nine illuminated and historiated initials (ff. 13r, 61r, 77r, 86r, 113r, 125r, 213r, 243r, 278r), 43 foliated borders with either thistle, strawberries, vine, violets or daisies (ff. 22v, 36r, 42v, 46r, 52v, 56v, 58v, 69r, 78v, 79v, 83v, 84v, 91v, 97v, 103r, 105v, 109v, 114v, 116v, 120v, 122v, 151r, 189v, 196v, 205r, 214r, 224r, 227v, 229v, 231v, 233v, 235v, 239r, 251v, 256r, 259r, 262r, 264v, 267r, 271r, 274v, 299r, 305r), hundreds of decorated initials, 2-4 lines, in burnished gold on raised gesso ground, with fillings and frames in blue and pinkish mauve with white details, and ca. 1000 pen flourished 1-line initials alternatively in blue and red or gold and blue.
Detailed description:
f. 13r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with standing Madonna and the child Jesus in a landscape. Foliated border with blue and yellow acanthus, small green leaves, small red flowers, golden stars, inhabited by a yellow and a grey bird in rigt margin.
f. 60v : full-page illumination of Anna selbdritt seated on a wooden throne with carved gothic tracery on its back, inside a blueish grey stone building with landscape back-drop seen through an open window and door. Anna is seated frontally holding an open book, dressed in a grey tunic, pink mantle with green lining, a white veil and a golden halo. Mary, significantly smaller, is seated on her lap, dressed in blue, with an unidentified small golden object (an egg?) in her right hand and the naked cross-nimbed Jesus seated sideways on her left knee, reaching for the object. Yellow floor with geometrically decorated tiles. Slender columns are flanking the scene and support an arch of the same shape as the surrounding inner frame of burnished gold. Foliated frame with blue and yellow acanthus, grapes and vine, inhabited by David or Samson to the left, dressed in blue, orange and white, with an orientalizing hat in pink and yellow, killing the lion, a small grey owl top right, and a spoonbill lower right; f. 61r : illuminated and historiated initial (M) in burnished gold with the Vistitation. Mary to the left in a mauve tunic and blue mantle, holding an inscribed scroll. Elisabeth to the right in gredy tunic and, mantle and white veil. Both are nimbed. Foliated frame with blue and yellow acanthus, small leaves and flowers in green and pink, inhabited by a white bird on top, and a peacock in the right margin;
f. 76v : full-page illumination of the Deposition. The dead, cross-nimbed Christ in short beige loin-cloth is sinking into the arms of the man to the left, dressed in blue with a pink purse, who is climbing a ladder, while another man dressed in pink with blue capuchon, kneeling by the foot of the cross, is removing the nail from Christ's feet. Standing to the the right is St. Mary in pink tunic and blue mantle, praying, and St. John in blue tunic and red mantle. A road is leading through the landscape into the light blue distant background. Foliated frame with blue and yellow acanthus, small green leaves, cornflowers and golden stars, inhabited by a white dove top left and a crane (?) in lower margin;
f. 77r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with the Man of sorrows standing in a landscape, dressed in short loin-cloth and white mantle, hands tied together with a scourge, his skin covered with small red wounds, his head crowned with thorns. Foliated border with blue and yellow acanthus, blue grapes, green vine and small golden stars, inhabited by a stork in the right margin;
f. 86r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with the Annunciation. St. Mary is kneeling by a draped lectern dressed in all blue turning her head towards the angel, who is dressed in white with green wings, and holding an inscribed scroll. Above the angel's head, the dove is flying amidst a fan of golden rays. The interior walls are pink and the floor yellow. Foliated border with blue and yellow acanthus, strawberries and small golden stars, inhabited by a grey moorhen (?) and a crane (?);
f. 113r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with the Coronation of the Virgin. The Father with grey hair and beard, dressed in a grey tunic and blue mantle, and the Son with brown hair and beard, dressed in a blue tunic and pink mantle, each holding a sphere and together crowning the Virgin who is kneeling in front of them, dressed in blue tunic and white mantle. The scene is set in a grey church interior with yellow floor. Foliated frame with blue and yellow acanthus, strawberries and small golden stars, inhabited by a magpie;
f. 125r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with celebrating priest kneeling in front of the altar, wearing a white alb and blue chasuble. Foliated frame with blue, yellow and pink acanthus with orange and mauve gooseberries and small golden stars, inhabited by a standing man, bottom right, in grey hoses and pink jacket (badly damaged), shooting a green parrot, top right;
f. 213r : illuminated and historiated initial (M) in burnished gold with Jesus at the age of twelve teaching in the temple. Jesus seated in the left part of the initial, dressed in mauve tunic, three doctors in the right part of the initial, two seated, the third standing, dressed in blue, green and grey with orange capuchon. The scene is set in a grey temple interior with yellow floor. Foliated frame with blue, yellow and pink acanthus, pink violets and small golden stars, inhabited by a grey owl, top right, and a white swan (?) (badly damaged) in the right margin;
f. 243r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with Christ carrying the cross. Christ dresseed in mauve tunic standing in a landscape with the cross on his right shoulder facing right. Foliated frame with blue, yellow and pink acanthus, pink tulip-shaped flowers and small golden stars, inhabited by a grey owl and a yellow finch;
f. 277v : full-page illumination of the Last judgement. Christ dressed in a pink mantle with green lining and a golden clasp sits on the rainbow with Earth as footpall, his right hand raised in blessing, his left lowered in a rejecting gesture. Christ is flanked by two trumpet-blowing angels clad in yellow with red or green wings. Underneath in front are the kneeling figures of St. Mary in pink tunic and blue mantle, to the left, and St. John in red tunic and grey mantle, to the right, and in the background landscape, six naked bodies raising from their open tombs. Foliated frame with blue and yellow acanthus,small golden stars, green leaves, flowers in pink and blue lilies, inhabited by two struggling men in the lower margin with grey or orange hoses, black shoes, green or pink jackets and the reverse colour on their hats, in the left margin a white bird and top right a grey butterfly with grey and yellow wings;
f. 278r : illuminated and historiated initial (H) in burnished gold with David praying. David, kneeling in a landscape is crowned and dressed in red tunic and blue mantle. Foliated border with blue and yellow acanthus, golden stars, small green leaves and flowers in orange, inhabited by a white bird (damaged) in right margin and a brown shoveler in upper margin;
f. 304v : full page illumination of the miracle of the Israelites gathering manna. In a landscape with a road and a river between green hills, trees and two towns fading towards the background in athmospheric perspective, four men of different ages, a woman and a child with baskets are occupied with gathering the manna which, in the shape of consecrated wafers, fall from the partially gilt cloud on top. Foliated frame decorated with blue and yellow acanthus, grapes, vine and cornflowers, inhabited by two men in the lower margin, dressed in grey hoses and shoes, blue or red jackets and the reverse colour on their hats, holding a ring or net between them, and top left a peacock;
f. 315r : full-page illumination of a Sacra Conversazione with St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The badly damaged figure of St. Catherine dressed in blue tunic and pink mantle with green lining holds in her right hand a sword and in her left the wheel with iron spikes. St. John the Baptist with white hair and beard is dressed in short brown tunic and blue mantle, holding the lamb in his arms. St. John the Evangelist is standing to the right dressed in blue tunic and red mantle, holding a chalice. The scene is placed in an interior with yellow floor with decorated tiles, blue roof following the shape of the golden frame and pink walls with two windows, the left of which is open towards the landscape. The rectangular area behind St. Catherine is gilt with punched surface in rombic pattern. Foliated border with blue and yellow acanthus, golden stars, green leaves and flowers in pink and grey, inhabited by a white dog sitting on a grass-covered rock in the lower margin, a white bird in the left margin and a butterfly with wings in blue and ochre top right.
Style: Although liturgically adopted for the use of Utrecht, the manuscript show no characteristics of the Utrecht style, but closer affinities with flemish products, above all from Bruges. Compare with Den Haag, KB 76 F 30 made by the Master of the Small Eyes c. 1440 - 60 or with Den Haag, MMW 10 F13 from 1479 and Den Haag, KB, 135 G10, made c 1460 for the Use of Utrecht by a follower of Willem Vrelant, born in Utrecht, but active in Bruges.
The historiated initials are generally of a higher quality than the full-page miniatures, and closeley related to the workshop of Willem Vrelant, though not to the master himself. Numerous features, such as the treatment of folds, floor decoration, landscape and architecture are identical in the miniatures and the initials, suggesting that the whole extant illuminated decoration, with the exception of the frames and borders, is the work of one artist, who probably was more accustomed to working in the small format.
Iconography: In the Anna selbdritt the feature of the gilt object in the hand of the Virgin is tentatively interpreted as an egg. An egg also occurs in the picture of the standing Madonna in St. Louis, Washington University Library, Ms 3, where the motif is juxtaposed with a peacock. In Medeltidshandskrift 52, the peacock has moved from the actual image to the foliated frame of the facing page. Since the St Louis manuscript has been attributed to the circle around Willem Vrelant as well, the iconographical connection between the two manuscripts corroborate the supposition of a common origin. The motif prefigures the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.
The deposition includes Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, St. Mary and St. John.
The composition of the Last Judgement with Christ seated on a rainbow flanked by two trumpet-blowing angels, his right hand raised in blessing, his left lowered in rejection, and the resurrection of the dead between St. Mary and St. John, is repeated in numerous Books of Hours, and is fully consistent with the Bruges tradition (cfr. the above mentioned St Louis, Washington UL, Ms 3). The Judgement is allegorically commented by the struggling men in the lower margin.
The miracle of manna shows consecrated wafers with images of the Crucifixion, allegorically linking the scene of Exodus 16:14 ff. and the striking of water from the rock (not present here) with the typology of the Passion of Christ with the flesh and blood of the communion.
The saints in the Sacra Conversazione are identified by their attributes, and the central position of St. Catherine strengthens the attribution to Utrecht, although in fact the manuscript was produced in Bruges.
Contact
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Location
Lund University LibraryHelgonabackenBox 3
221 00 Lund
St. Laurentius Digital Manuscript Library
- Shelfmark: Medeltidshandskrift 52
- Previous shelfmark: Rarsaml. Teol.
Identifiers (general)
urn:nbn:se:alvin:portal:record-14719 (nbn)
Identifiers (local)
alvin-record:14719 (alvin)
Licensing of the work
Public Domain Mark (No Known Copyright)