Walters Ms. W.180, Grisaille Book of Hours

W.180

Grisaille Book of Hours

Book of Hours

This pocket-sized Book of Hours was created ca. 1460-70 in Bruges, and its artist appears to have been influenced by the famed Flemish illuminator Willem Vrelant. Most notable are the thirteen delicate grisaille (gray tone) miniatures, with their matching foliate borders. Although the original owner remains unknown, an early inscription reveals that the book was gifted by an Italian lady to her female cousin within a few generations of its creation. Other manuscripts in the collection with related textual and codicological features include W.177, W.179, and W.183.

Ca. 1460-1470 CE

Bruges

Supplied name: Willem Vrelant circle

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Very thin to medium-weight parchment, well selected and finished; images on heavier inserted folios; flyleaves are modern parchment

Foliation: i+268+i

Modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos

Formula: Quire 1: 4 (fols. 1-4); Quires 2-3: 6 (fols. 5-16); Quire 4: 8, with first folio cancelled and ninth folio added (fols. 17-24); Quires 5-6: 8 (fols. 25-40); Quire 7: 8, with fourth folio added (fols. 41-49); Quire 8: 8 (fols. 50-57); Quire 9: 8, with eighth folio cancelled and fifth folio added (fols. 58-65); Quire 10: 8, with fourth folio added (fols. 66-74); Quire 11: 8, with second and ninth folios added (fols. 75-84); Quire 12: 8 (fols. 85-92); Quire 13: 6, with first folio added (fols. 93-99); Quire 14: 8, with second and ninth folios added (fols. 100-109); Quire 15: 10 (fols. 110-119); Quire 16: 8, with first and second folio added (fols. 120-129); Quire 17: 6, with third folio added (fols. 130-136); Quire 18: 6, with third folio added (fols. 137-143); Quires 19-23: 8 (fols. 144-183); Quire 24: 8, with second folio removed (fols. 184-191); Quire 25: 8 (fols. 192-199); Quire 26: 8, with first folio added (fols. 200-208); Quires 27-28: 8 (fols. 209-224); Quire 29: 6, with sixth folio cancelled and conjectural sewing after fol. 227 (fols. 225-229); Quire 30: 8, with first folio added (fols. 230-238);Quire 31: 8, with second folio added (fols. 239-247); Quire 32: 8, with second folio added (fols. 248-256); Quire 33: 8 (fols. 257-264); Quire 34: 4 (fols. 265-268)

Catchwords: Most still visible in lower margin on last versos of quires

Comments:

6.2 cm wide by 9.2 cm high

3.6 cm wide by 5.1 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 13
3. Layout does not apply to calendar: textblock is 3.5 x 5.9 cm, 3 columns, 17 lines

fols. 1r - 268v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Artist: Willem Vrelant circle
3. Hand note: Italianate gothic rotunda
4. Decoration note: Thirteen extant full-page grisaille miniatures (two missing); large decorated initials begin major divisions of text opposite full-page miniatures (4-5 lines); grisaille foliate borders surround miniatures and opening texts, and match across opening; versals in alternating blue and gold with red or blue penwork decoration (1 line); foliate and geometric line fillers in litany in blue and gold; rubrics in rose; text in brown ink

fols. 5r - 16v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Januarius xxxi. luna vero xxx.
3. Contents: Calendar one forth to half full, graded in red and brown; contents for Bruges; saints of note include Amandus (Feb. 2), Adrian (Mar. 4), Patrick (Mar. 17), Sophia (May 15), Basil (June 14), Aegydius (Sept. 1), Marcellus (Sept. 3), Bavo and Remigius (Oct. 1), Callistus (Oct. 13, usually 14), Donatian (Oct. 14), Ambrose (Dec. 7), and Paulinus (Dec. 19)

fols. 17r - 107v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipit officium gloriose virginis marie secundum usum romane curie. Ad matutinum. Vs.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea
4. Contents: Use of Rome
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 17v, 45v, 62v, 69v, 76v, 83v, and 101v; miniature missing after fol. 89

fols. 108v - 120v:

1. Title: Advent Office of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipit officium beate marie virginis quod dicitur per totum adventum. Ad vesperas. Incipit.
3. Incipit: Deus in adjutorium
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature fol. 108v

fols. 121v - 184v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Rubric: Incipiunt vigilie mortuorum. Ad vesperas. An.
3. Incipit: Placebo domino
4. Contents: Use of Rome
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniature fol. 121v

fols. 185r - 194r:

1. Title: Devotional sequence
2. Rubric: De sancto Jeronimo. a.
3. Incipit: Confessor domini jeronime astantem plebem
4. Contents: Fols. 185r-v: suffrage to St. Jerome; fols. 186r-189v: prayer to the Virgin (O Intemerata); fols. 189v-194r: prayer to the Virgin (Obsecro te)

fols. 200v - 217r:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Rubric: Incipiunt septem psalmi penitentiales. Ant.
3. Incipit: Domine ne in furore
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature fol. 200v

fols. 217r - 229v:

1. Title: Litany, petitions, and collects
2. Rubric: Letanie.
3. Incipit: Kyrieleyson
4. Contents: Contents indicate Use of Rome; fols. 217r-220v: litany, with sixteen apostles, evangelists, and disciples from Peter to Mark; eleven martyrs; seven pope confessors; eight monks, hermits, priests, and levites including Benedict, Paul the Hermit, Nicholas of Tolentino, Anthony, Bernard, Francis, Dominic, and Alexis; ten virgins and widows, including Monica; fols. 220v-224v: petitions and invocations; fols. 224v-225v: imprecations; fols 226r-229v: ten collects

fols. 230v - 239v:

1. Title: Hours of the Cross
2. Rubric: Incipit officium de sancti cricis. Ad matutinum.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature fol. 230v

fols. 240v - 248r:

1. Title: Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Rubric: Incipit officium de sancto spiritu. Ad matutinum.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature fol. 240v

fols. 249v - 258r:

1. Title: Mass of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Incipit missa gloriose virginis marie. Versus.
3. Incipit: Introibo ad altare dei
4. Decoration note: Full-page miniature fol. 249v

fols. 258r - 265r:

1. Title: Gospel sequences
2. Rubric: Secundum iohannem.
3. Incipit: In principio erat verbum

fol. 17v:

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

fol. 45v:

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

fol. 62v:

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

fol. 69v:

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

fol. 76v:

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

fol. 83v:

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

fol. 101v:

1. 
2. Title: Flight into Egypt
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 108v:

1. 
2. Title: Coronation of the Virgin
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Advent Office of the Virgin

fol. 121v:

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

fol. 200v:

1. 
2. Title: King David kneeling in penitence
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms

fol. 230v:

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

fol. 240v:

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

fol. 249v:

1. 
2. Title: Angel adoring the Virgin and Child
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Mass of the Virgin

The binding is not original.

Likely rebound in Belgium, seventeenth century; rebacked in modern times; wood boards (?) covered in black leather with blind-tooled ovals on both boards and spine; sewn on three cords; pink and green thread endbands; page edges gilt; remains of straps visible with fleurs-de-lis shaped attachments still in place; nineteenth-century fore-edge tabs

Created in Bruges ca. 1460-70, likely by artists in the circle of Willem Vrelant

Inscription on fol. 195v, ca. fifteenth or sixteenth century, records the book being gifted by Italian lady to her cousin: "Dy madonna angora gentili et questo libro arri cordateui delle uostre cusine chare Le quale senpre auo sera comandano"

Nineteenth- or early twentieth-century pencil inscription in English by unknown later owner, noting on back pastedown the loss of two miniatures

Léon Gruel and Edmund Engelmann collection, turn of twentieth century; their bookplate numbered "126" on front pastedown

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel between 1900 and 1931

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

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. 797, cat. no. 256.

Bowles, Edmund A. "A Checklist of Musical Instruments in Fifteenth Century Illuminated Manuscripts at the Walters Art Gallery." Quarterly of the Music Library Association 32, no. 4 (1976): 719-726; pp. 720, 723.

Sinclair, Keith Val. Prières en ancien français. Hamden, CT: Archon, 1978; p. 161 (erroneous reference).

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. 392.

Bousmanne, Bernard. "Prolégomènes à la constitution et à l'interprétation d'un corpus des manuscrits attribués au groupe Vrelant: Un aspect de l'enluminure dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux aux XVe siècle." Ph.D. diss., Université Catholique de Louvain, 1994; p. 23f.

Bousmanne, Bernard. Item à Guillaume Wyelant aussi enlumineur: Willem Vrelant, un aspect de l'enluminure dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux sous le mécénat des ducs de Bourgogne Philippe le Bon et Charles le Téméraire. Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997; p. 61.

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. 298-301, cat. no. 260.

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Brown, Emily; Emery, Doug; Herbold, Rebekah; Noel, William; Schuele, Allyson; Shartrand, Emily; 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.