Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. [Valenciennes, later 1470s] 158 x 110mm. 84 leaves, lacking an undetermined number including at least seven with miniatures, 24 lines written in dark brown ink in lettre bâtarde between two verticals and 25 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 105 x 70mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched yellow, five-line initial in blue with white tracery against a ground of pink and gold, one- and two-line initials of burnished gold on grounds of pink and blue, occasional line-fillers of similar type, ONE LARGE MINIATURE WITH FULL-PAGE BORDER AND FOURTEEN SMALL MINIATURES accompanied by panel borders on one or both sides with sprays of brown and blue acanthus, fruit and flowers and inhabited by birds (minor rubbing to a few miniatures and borders, around 10 leaves remargined in gutter, some discreet modifications to text to conceal lacunae). 19th-century French red morocco, gilt-blocked to a cathedral style, gilt spine, gilt edges, marbled endleaves (slight wear to joints and corners). Folding cloth case. AN UNKNOWN MANUSCRIPT FROM THE WORKSHOP OF SIMON MARMION PROVENANCE: The style of the miniatures and borders shows that the manuscript was painted in the later 1470s in the workshop of Simon Marmion who was active in Valenciennes from 1458 until his death in 1489. The French of the rubrics is that of the north Francophone area, to which Hainault belonged. Most of Hainault was in the diocese of Cambrai and what remains of the Office of the Dead is for the use of Cambrai and the Litany includes many Cambrai saints, for example Wasnulph and Vindicianus, and others more specific to Hainault. CONTENT: Hours of the Virgin, sext (ff.1-3v); Abbreviated Hours for the Days of the Week ff.4-24v: of All Saints for Tuesdays (ff.4-7v), of the Holy Spirit for Wednesdays (ff.8-11v), of the Sacrament for Thursdays (ff.11v-15v), of the Dead for Fridays, lacking matins and lauds (ff.16-20v), of the Virgin for Saturdays (ff. 21-24v); Hours of the Virgin, end of lauds followed by Memorials for Peace and All Saints (ff.25-28v); Mass of the Virgin, lacking opening (ff.29-32); Gospel Extracts (ff.32-35); O intemerata , lacking end (f.35r & v); Vigils of the Dead, fragment (ff.36-46v); Suffrages to St Margaret, lacking opening, St Elizabeth, St Apollonia, St Mary Magdalene, St Barbara, St Ursula, All Saints and the Holy Spirit (ff.47-51); Psalter of St Bernard (ff.51v-52); Prayers with indulgences (ff.52-53v); Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross (ff.53v-54v); Commendes des ames (ff.55-55v); Psalms and prayers, including Litany (ff.55v-84v) ILLUMINATION: Different hands have long been discerned in the manuscripts attributed to Simon Marmion the 'prince of illumination'. The illuminator of this Hours shares many characteristics with some of the heavenly miniatures in the Visions of Tondal written for Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, in 1474 (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms 30: T. Kren, The Visions of Tondal , Malibu, 1990). The figures have smaller heads than Marmion's usual type and are less confidently articulated, but the illuminator has learnt Marmion's exquisite painterly technique and is familiar with his compositional patterns. Tiny traces of gold model and detail draperies and landscapes, and silver, now tarnished, once enlivened the skies. This treatment is also seen in the leaf in the Lehman Collection that has the best claim to be a documented work by Marmion, coming from the Breviary delivered to the Duke of Burgundy in 1470 (see S. Hindman et al, Illuminations in the Robert Lehman Collection , Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, pp.61-72). This leaf also provides telling parallels for the groups of seated figures and the procession through a gateway on folios 4, 8, 11v and 50 of the present manuscript, and for the spacious landscapes depicted with dazzling economy. Semi-grisaille, often used by Marmion, is deployed here in the Annunciation; other