Walters Ms. W.435, Book of Hours

W.435

Book of Hours

Book of Hours

This beautifully bound Book of Hours was completed in Bruges ca. 1490. The illuminator's style was influenced by the Master of Edward IV, active ca. 1470-90, and followers. The manuscript includes twelve full-page miniatures and twenty-five small miniatures, along with sacred and secular marginalia and some illusionistic borders. While the sheer volume of miniatures is remarkable, the decoration program as a whole only strengthens the manuscript’s impact. Select marginalia motifs reinforce the compositional motifs of the miniatures; see fols. 25v and 26r for Passion motifs.

Ca. 1490 CE

Bruges

Authority name: Master of Edward IV, fl. 1470-1490

Supplied name: Master of Edward IV and followers

Book

Devotional

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

Parchment

Carefully selected and well-prepared thin to medium-weight parchment; front flyleaves of thick parchment predating present binding; front and back flyleaves bear imprint of rivet marks, hooked to facing pastedown

Foliation: iii+188+iv

Modern pencil foliation upper right corners, rectos

Formula: Quire 1: 2, with third folio added (fols. 1-3); Quires 2-3: 6 (fols. 4-15); Quire 4: 8, with first and tenth folios added (fols. 16-25); Quire 5: 8 (fols. 26-33); Quire 6: 8, with second folio added (fols. 34-42); Quire 7: 8, with first folio added (fols. 43-51); Quire 8: 4 (fols. 52-55); Quire 9: 4, with fifth folio added (fols. 56-60); Quire 10: 8, with first and ninth folios added (fols. 61-70); Quire 11: 10 (fols. 71-80); Quire 12: 6 (fols. 81-86); Quire 13: 8 (87-94); Quire 14: 6 (fols. 95-100); Quire 15: 6 (fols. 101-106); Quire 16: 8, with first folio added (fols. 107-115); Quire 17: 8 (fols. 116-123); Quire 18: 4 (fols. 124-127); Quire 19: 8, with first folio added (fols. 128-136); Quire 20: 6 (fols. 137-142); Quire 21: 8 (fols. 143-150); Quire 22: 8 (fols. 151-158); Quire 23: 2 (fols. 159-160); Quire 24: 8 (fols. 161-168); Quire 25: 6 (fols. 169-174); Quire 26: 6 (fols. 175-180); Quire 27: 8 (fols. 181-188)

Comments:

10.4 cm wide by 14.7 cm high

fols. 1r - 188v: 5.7 cm wide by 8.7 cm high

fols. 1r - 3v: 5.7 cm wide by 9.2 cm high

fols. 1r - 188v:

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 15
3. Ruled in pale rose; layout does not apply to calendar: written space 9.4 x 6.2 cm, 3 columns of 17 lines

fols. 1r - 3v:

1. Columns: 3
2. Ruled lines: 15

fols. 1r - 188v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Hand note: Burgundian littera batarda
3. Decoration note: Twelve full-page miniatures, six inserted; twenty-five small miniatures; sacred and secular marginalia; decorated illuminated initials of liquid gold appearing on pages opposite full-page miniatures (3 lines) and at secondary text divisions (2 lines); versals and gold domincal letters "A" on alternately bright blue and brownish-red ground minimally patterned in gold; borders on three pages with inserted miniatures (fols. 25v, 43v, and 128v); around remaining three inserted and six integral full-page miniatures are well-spaced motifs (as well as insects), ground, cast shadows, and marginalia; on pages opposite full-page miniatures are illusionistic borders, probably by same hand; marginalia found at nine of twelve openings marked by full-page miniatures; line fillers beginning in calendar are panels in rich blue, thereafter in same blue alternating with brownish-red, sketchy gold patterning; rubrics in red; text in brown ink

fols. 1r - 3v:

1. Title: Easter Tables
2. Rubric: Pasques. Ans. Lettre. dominicale.
3. Contents: Added early, fol. 1r blank with Italian inscription; columnar layout; computistic tables for determining Easter

fols. 4r - 15v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Janiver a xxxi jours. La lune xxx.
3. Contents: Calendar in French, one-fourth to one-half filled; graded in pale red and brown ink; names preceded by "Saint" or "Sainte," followed by punctus; contents composite, including saints of the dioceses of Tournai and Cambrai with some English saints; feasts of note include: William (Jan. 1, "guillame," bishop of Bourges), Vincent (Jan. 22), Aldegund (Jan. 30), Audebert (Feb. 27), Thomas Aquinas (Mar. 7, Dominican), Leo I (Mar. 14), Sabina (Mar. 31), Helen (Apr. 5, irregular date), Autbert (Apr. 10; also Feb. 27), Maximus (Apr. 15), Firminus (Apr. 18; cf. Sept. 14), Peter (Apr. 29, martyr, Dominican), Victor (May 14), Honoratus (May 22, "honnoure"), Bede (May 27), Petronilla (May 31, "pieronnelle"), Quirinus (Jun. 4), Basil (Jun. 14), Romanus (Jun. 17), Vedast (Jul. 15), Christina (Jul. 24), James the Greater and Christopher (Jul. 25), Dominic (Aug. 4, "dominicque"), Arnold (Aug. 16), Louis of France (Aug. 25), Firminus (Sept. 25, bishop of Amiens), Remigius and Piatus (Oct. 1, latter indicative of Tournai), Dionysius and Ghislain (Oct. 9, latter indicative of Tournai), Edward (Oct. 13), Leonard (Nov. 6, "lienard"), Brictius (Nov. 13, "brice"), Lucy (Dec. 13, "Luce"), Thomas Becket (Dec. 29, "thomas de catorbie"); fol. 16r-v, blank

fols. 17r - 24v:

1. Title: Gospel Sequences
2. Rubric: Initium sancti evangelii. secundum iohannem. Gloria tibi domine.
3. Incipit: In principio erat verbum
4. Contents: Appended prayers and invocations: John 1:1-24, Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 2:1-12, and Mark 16:14-20
5. Decoration note: One small miniature on fol. 17r

fols. 25r - 34v:

1. Title: Hours of the Cross
2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore sancta cruce.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 25v

fols. 35r - 42r:

1. Title: Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Rubric: Hore sancto spiritu
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 35v

fols. 43r - 106v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Hore de nostra domina
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Contents: Hours of the Virgin, for the use of Rome; headings for two canonical hours, namely Prime and Terce
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 43v, 56v, 69v 75v, 81v, 87v, 92v, and 101v

fols. 107r - 120r:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Rubric: Incipiunt septem psalmi
3. Incipit: Domine ne in furore tuo
4. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 107v

fols. 120r - 127v:

1. Title: Litany, petitions, invocations, and collects
2. Rubric: Letania
3. Incipit: Kyrieleyson
4. Contents: Litany includes saints for Roman rite; sixteen saints/apostles/evangelists, from Peter to Martialis (latter unusual); eleven martyrs (three pairs); seven pope confessors; five monks/hermits; ten virgins/widows, including "margaretha" and "helizabeth"; fols. 123r-125r: petitions, invocations, cue to Psalm 101; fols. 125r-127v: nine collects, first five headed, "oratio." or "o.," fifth for bishop

fols. 128r - 160v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Rubric: Ad vesperas mortuorum antiphona
3. Incipit: Dilexi quoniam exaudiet Dominus
4. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 128v

fols. 161r - 188v:

1. Title: Devotional Sequence
2. Rubric: De saint Michael. antiphona.
3. Incipit: Michael archangele paradisi
4. Contents: Devotional sequence; fols. 161r-180v: twenty-one suffrages, sixteen to male saints (one pair) and six to female saints; typically headed "De Saint . . . sainct" and "De sainte . . . saincte . . . ."; intercalated quatrains to All Apostles, Andrew, Vincent, Martin: Michael, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Peter and Paul, Andrew quatrain, James the Greater, Stephen, Lawrence, Christopher, Sebastian, Nicholas, Claudius, Jerome, Francis, Anthony, Adrian, Martin, Anne, Mary Magdalene, Catherine, Margaret (heading cites to Barbara by mistake, "De sainte barbe."), "Virgo gloriosa Christi margaretha virginum gemma preciosissima . . . .," Barbara, and Apollonia; fols. 180v-181v: two communion prayers; fols. 181v-183r: prayer lamenting sorrow of the Virgin by the Cross; fol. 183r-v: "Versus"; fols. 184r-185v: Seven Prayers of St. Gregory; fol. 185v: closing prayer; fols. 185v-186r: Communion prayers; fols. 186r-v: Prayer to the Virgin; fols. 187v-188r: Prayers to Christ on the Cross, beginning with quatrain, recitation of fourth prayer on the Passion yields unspecified period of indulgence, "Salutation quand on pense a dieu crucifie. In cruce pendentem. rogo te deum omnipotentem. Ut michi des mentem. Semper te amare volentem"; fol. 188r-v: "Oroison"
5. Decoration note: Small miniatures on fols. 161r, 161v, 162v, 163r, 164r, 165r, 165v, 166v, 168r, 169v, 170r, 171v (water damaged or unfinished), 172v, 173r, 174r, 175r, 176r, 176v, 177v, 178r, and 179v

fol. 17r:

1. 
2. Title: St. John on Patmos
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Gospel Sequences

fol. 19r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Luke holding pen
3. Form: Small miniature, 7 lines
4. Text: Gospel Sequences

fol. 21r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Matthew
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Gospel Sequences

fol. 23r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Mark writing on scroll in his lap
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Gospel Sequences

fol. 25v:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Cross

fol. 35v:

1. 
2. Title: Pentecost
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit

fol. 43v:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins

fol. 56v:

1. 
2. Title: Visitation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Lauds

fol. 69v:

1. 
2. Title: Nativity-Adoration
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime

fol. 75v:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation to shepherds and shepherdess
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Terce

fol. 81v:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext

fol. 87v:

1. 
2. Title: Presentation in the Temple
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 88r:

1. 
2. Title: Monks playing Blind Man's Bluff
3. Form: Marginal illumination
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 92v:

1. 
2. Title: Flight into Egypt, fall of pagan idol
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Vespers

fol. 101v:

1. 
2. Title: Coronation of the Virgin by the Trinity
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 107v:

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

fol. 128v:

1. 
2. Title: Raising of Lazarus
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Office of the Dead

fol. 161r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Michael vanquishing the Devil
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Michael

fol. 161v:

1. 
2. Title: St. John the Baptist
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. John the Baptist

fol. 162v:

1. 
2. Title: St. John the Evangelist blesses poisoned chalice
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. John the Evangelist

fol. 163r:

1. 
2. Title: SS. Peter and Paul
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to SS. Peter and Paul

fol. 164r:

1. 
2. Title: St. James the Greater
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. James the Greater

fol. 165r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Stephen
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Stephen

fol. 165v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Lawrence
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Lawrence

fol. 166v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Christopher carries the Christ Child
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Christopher

fol. 168r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Sebastian
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Sebastian

fol. 169v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Nicholas resuscitating three youths
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Nicholas

fol. 170r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Claudius
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Claudius

fol. 171v:

1. 
2. Title: Penance of St. Jerome
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Jerome

fol. 172v:

1. 
2. Title: Stigmatization of St. Francis
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Francis

fol. 173r:

1. 
2. Title: Temptation of St. Anthony
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Anthony

fol. 174r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Adrian
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Adrian

fol. 175r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Anne
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Anne

fol. 176r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Mary Magdalene
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Mary Magdalene

fol. 176v:

1. 
2. Title: Beheading of St. Catherine
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Catherine

fol. 177v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Margaret seated in front of dragon
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Margaret

fol. 178r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Barbara
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Barbara

fol. 179v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Apollonia
3. Form: Small miniature, 8 lines
4. Text: Suffrages: Suffrage to St. Apollonia

The binding is not original.

Bound in Belgium(?) ca. sixteenth century; crimson velvet over wooden boards; sides are embroidered in panel-and-frame design, displayed and cupped flowers in relief are worked in silver wire wrapped around thread, silver gilded thread wound around dyed yellow silk thread is used for foliate pattern; spine covered with crimson velvet, hollow and lined with red buckram since rebacking in 1949 by MacDonald, New York; endbands of a heavy yellowish rose thread; edges gilded, gauffered with punched Italianate plaitwork design (cf. inscription dated 1546); evidence of former fastening by tie attached by rivets to center fore-edge of upper and lower boards (holes on front and back pastedowns, impressions on front flyleaves)

Completed for use of Rome, likely in Bruges, ca. 1490; illuminated under the influence of the Master of Edward IV

Rebound, possibly in Belgium, sixteenth century

Effaced inscription, on fol. 1r, Rome(?); Italian entry beneath dated Nov. 1, 1546, reading, "A.Q.D.C.R. Addi pmo novembr .M.D. xlvi in Ra"

Leo S. Olschki, Italian (Florence) bookseller, the number "45," as well as his inventory number "31457," penciled on front pastedown; "45" stamped in black on excised descriptions from Olschki sale catalogues from 1910 and 1911-12, sent by him to Henry Walters

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Leo S. Olschki in 1912; invoice number 45: WAM Archives

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

Olschki, Leo Samuele, Manuscrits sur vélin avec miniatures, cat. 74, no. 23, Pl. VIII (Florence, 1910).

Olschki, Leo Samuele, "Quelques manuscrits fort précieux," La Bibliofilia 13 (1911-12): pp. 15-17, illus. (fol. 92v).

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. 807, cat. no. 314.

Miner, D. The History of Bookbinding, 525-1950 A.D., Exhibition Catalogue no. 342: Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery (1957).

Bowles, Edward Augustus, "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. 722-25.

Owens, M. B., "Musical Subjects in the Illumination of Books of Hours from Fifteenth-Century France and Flanders," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago: 1987, p. 475, fig. 57 (fol. 108r).

Wieck, R. S., with essays by L. R. Poos, V Reinburg, and J. Plummer. Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life, Exhibition Catalogue, 1988: no. 122, pp. 132, 133, 217, fig. 124 (fol. 128v).

Hindman, S. L., Four Miniatures by Simon Bening, Exhibition Catalogue, London: Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox Ltd., in association with Bruce P. Ferrini Rare Books, Akron, Ohio, and Sam Fogg Rare Books and Manuscripts, London (1989): ref. under lot 25.

Cahn, W. "Margaret of York's guide to the Pilgrimage Churches of Rome," in "Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and The Visions of Tondal," p. 93, fig. 55. Papers delivered at a symposium organized by the Department of Manuscripts of the J. Paul Getty Museum in collaboration with the Huntington Library and Art Collections, June 21-24 1990, ed. and contributor T. Kren (Malibu, 1992)

Burin, Elizabeth, "Bound to Please," in Bulletin of the Walters Art Gallery, 46/1 (1993): 4.

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. 447-55 (ref. under cat. no. 284, W.435).

Cahn, Walter. Studies in Medieval Art and Interpretation. Oakville, CT: David Brown Book Company, 2000; p. 333 (fig. 13).

Vanwijnsberghe, Dominique. “Marketing Books for Burghers: Jean Markant’s Activity in Tournai, Lille, and Bruges.” In Flemish Manuscript Painting in Context: Recent Research. Edited by Elizabeth Morrison and Thomas Kren, 135-48. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2006; pp. 137, 138, 146.

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Herbold, Rebekah

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Wallace, Susan

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Ransom, Allison; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Wiegand, Kimber

The Walters Art Museum

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.