A Book of Hours for Sint-Pieters, Ghent
(Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26) :
A fascinating and complex work
Paula L. Pumplin
MA-scriptie, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Kunstgeschiedenis van de Middeleeuwen
Studentnummer: 0610836
26 oktober 2011
Begeleider: Prof. Claudine Chavannes-Mazel
Table of contents
Introduction
State of research
The current study
Part 1 – Description of UBA, Ms. XXV C 26
Date and localization
Script and penwork
Decoration
Content
Illumination
Hand A - Master of the Feathery Clouds
Hand B - Master of Willem van Bossuyt
Hand C - Master of Gerard Brilis
Hand D – Maître Y of ÖNB, Cod. 1857?
Part 2 – The Hours of the Holy Spirit in XXV C 26 and new iconography of the Virtues
The new iconography in the Northern Netherlands
French origins of the new iconography
The Virtues in the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit in XXV C 26 (f. 22r-24v)
Summary and Conclusion
Literature consulted
Appendix 1 – Codicological description
Appendix 2 - Overview of UBA Ms. XXV C 26
Figures
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Introduction
The Book of Hours that is the subject of this thesis is one of the treasures of the
Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam. Produced in Flanders during the second
half of the 15th century, its most striking feature is a series of eleven full-page miniatures,
seven of which accompany the Hours of the Virgin. The remaining four introduce,
respectively, the Seven Penitential Psalms, the Office of the Dead, the Salve regina and the
Passion according to John. These miniatures are of such high quality and are accompanied by
borders of such great charm and inventiveness that they have been attributed to Lieven van
Lathem, one of the foremost Flemish miniaturists of the second half of the 15th century. The
manuscript is further richly decorated with 22 column miniatures, 1 two column miniature, 89
historiated initials and border decoration throughout.1
State of research
Until recently, there was almost nothing written specifically about XXV C 26. An A4
sheet of handwritten annotations in German by an unknown author is inserted at the back of
the manuscript itself. Judging from the paper and handwriting, these annotations were
probably made in the second half of the twentieth century. The author distinguishes three
hands, dates the manuscript c.1470 and locates it in Ghent or Bruges. There is an entry for the
manuscript in the catalogue of a sale held in Amsterdam in 1929 and in the catalogue of an
exhibition held at the University Library in Amsterdam in1977.2
George Dogaer first associated the illumination in the manuscript with Lieven van
Lathem and finds that the style of XXV C 26 resembles that of four other Books of Hours
related to Lieven van Lathem.3
A basic description of XXV C 26 appears in Alexander Willem Byvanck
Genootschap, Illuminated manuscripts in Dutch collections : preliminary precursor, part 2-3.
The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1993, p. 29-31. The identification of the subjects of the
painted decoration and texts in this source was very useful when I was compiling an overview
of the manuscript (Appendix 2).
Eva Wolf provided a more extensive treatment of XXV C 26 in 1996.4 She included
the Amsterdam manuscript in her study of the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (Stuttgart,
1
I first encountered UBA Ms. XXV C 26 during the seminar, Toegepaste handschriftenkunde, offered by Prof.
J.A.A.M. Biemans in the spring of 2006. His willingness to share this beautiful Book of Hours with us is
indicative of his engaging teaching methods. I got to know the manuscript better during the seminar, Het
middeleeuwse boek, offered in the autumn of the same year. The course was team-taught by Prof. Biemans,
Prof. C.A. Chavannes-Mazel and Dr. K.M. Rudy of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. I was part of the
“handengroep” whose task it was to sort out and characterize the hands responsible for the illumination. The
other members of the group were Ingrid Henkemans (Hand A) and Ellie Verbeek (Hand B). My assignment was
Hand C, the artist responsible for the full-page miniatures. I worked closely with Dr. Rudy during this period,
and am deeply grateful for her advice and guidance in this matter. When the seminar was over, I realized that
there was much more to be learned about the manuscript. As a result, I decided to use it as the subject for my
Masters thesis. Dr. K.H. Broekhuijsen gave me much valuable advice at the beginning of my research. I was
fortunate to have Prof. Chavannes-Mazel as my thesis advisor. I am profoundly indebted to Prof. James H.
Marrow for his willingness to share documentation (including high quality reproductions) relating to the Book of
Hours in Saint Petersburg (Hermitage, Graphic arts department, Ms. 6) and his recent insights relating to a Book
of Hours in Vienna (ÖNB, S.n. 12908). I am grateful to Klaas van der Hoek for discussing Antonis uten Broec
with me.
2
Beumer et al. 1977, p. 12-13 (cat. I-3) and Catalogue 1929, p. 20-21 (lot 41)
3
Dogaer 1987, p. 133. The four Books of Hours are: Madrid, B.N., Ms, Vit. 24-10; Oxford, Bodl. L., Mss.
Douce 381, fols. 78-88 + Douce, d. 19, fol. 71v; Oxford, Bodl. L., Ms. Gough Liturg. 15 and Paris, BN, Ms.
nouv. acq. lat. 215. See Dogaer 1987, p. 136.
4
Wolf 1996, p. 237-240 (cat. no. 1, as Ms. XV C 26).
2
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Landesbibliothek, Cod.brev.162) because, according to her, Hand B of the Stuttgart
manuscript is the same as Hand C in XXV C 26.5 In her catalogue entry for XXV C 26, she
identifies three hands responsible for the illumination, briefly describes the style of each artist
and indicates two or three folios as examples of their work.6 She states that the borders
executed by Hand A are reminiscent of those of the Master of the Feathery Clouds. She also
identifies four additional manuscripts where Hand B of the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch was
active.7
While I was beginning work on my thesis, James H. Marrow was (unbeknownst to
me) working on an essay that has profound implications for the identification of the hands in
XXV C 26.8 He attributes five additional works to Hand B of the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch
(and thus also to Hand C of XXV C 26), and proposes re-naming this artist the Master of
Gerard Brilis after the scribe who collaborated with this Master in two Carthusian Bibles now
in Malmesbury and Brussels.9 Marrow agrees with Wolf that Hand A of XXV C 26 is the
Master of the Feathery Clouds.10 He calls Hand B the Master of Willem van Bossuyt after a
Missal illuminated for an altar endowed by Van Bossuyt in Ghent.11 Unlike Wolf, Marrow
“does not see the hand of the Master of Gerard Brilis in the Vienna Hours of Mary of
Burgundy” (ÖNB, Cod. 1857).12 He also finds that the borders accompanying the full-page
miniatures in XXV C 26 are “by another painter working in a style related to that of Lieven
van Lathem.”13 Marrow‟s work now forms the basis for further discussion of the illumination
in XXV C 26.
On a more general level, there have been major developments in research on Flemish
illuminated manuscripts, for example, the catalogue of the groundbreaking exhibition,
Illuminating the Renaissance held in Los Angeles and London, 2003, the lectures presented
at the accompanying symposium and Thomas Kren‟s lecture, The Trivulzio Hours and the
inter-urban network of luxury book production in the Burgundian Netherlands, given in
March 2007 at the symposium in honour of Anne Korteweg at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek,
The Hague.14 Also of importance is Antoine de Schryver‟s monograph on the Prayer Book of
Charles the Bold, published posthumously in 2007, which is a culmination of more than 50
years of research.15 While these sources do not specifically mention XXV C 26, they do
provide detailed information about the context in which the manuscript was produced.
5
Idem. In this thesis I will use the same designations as Wolf.
Unfortunately, the list of the illumination (p. 238-239) contains a number of errors and omissions.
7
Wolf 1996, p. 316: Roman de Girart de Roussillon, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod.2549 (Wolf, cat.18); Breviary of
Grammont, Maredsous, Bibl. de l‟Abbaye, Ms. Fº 3/1-4 (Hand D) (Wolf cat.7); so-called Missal of Pope Pius V,
Mondovi, Curia Vescovile (no signature) (Hand B) (Wolf cat.8) and Hours of Mary of Burgundy, Vienna, ÖNB,
Cod.1857 (Maître Y) (Wolf cat.16).
8
Marrow 2007. He discusses XXV C 26 on p. 175-176, 187-188 (notes 19-25). I cannot thank Dr. Rudy enough
for bringing this essay to my attention before I began writing my thesis.
9
Carthusian Bible of Herne, Malmesbury, Parish church (no signature); Carthusian Bible from Scheut, Brussels,
KBR, Ms. 201-203, 167; Book of Hours, St. Petersburg, Hermitage, Graphic Arts Department, Ms. 6; Four
leaves in a Book of Hours, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. S.n. 12908, ff. 31v/32r, 44v/45r and Book of Hours, Heribert
Tenschert, Bibermühle, Switzerland. See Marrow 2007, p. 176-177, 188-189 (notes 26-33).
10
See also Marrow 1987, p. 308 (note 27).
11
London, British Library, Ms. Add. 17440. See Marrow 2007, 175, 187 (note 21).
12
Marrow 2007, p. 185 (note 2). For Maître Y, see Unterkircher and De Schryver 1969, v. 2, p. 54-60.
13
Marrow 2007, p. 175.
14
Flemish manuscript painting in context : recent research, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006. Kren‟s
lecture will be published in a collection of essays edited by K.M. Rudy.
15
De Schryver 2007, p. 10.
6
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
The current study
My primary goal in this thesis is to understand the manuscript as a whole. I therefore
began my research by making a codicological description (Appendix 1) and an overview of
the manuscript (Appendix 2).16 As James Marrow has rightly noted, XXV C 26 is a
“fascinating and complex book.”17 It is indeed so fascinating and complex that it took me a
long time to find a focus for my thesis among the many intriguing possibilities. One of the
aspects that interested me was the participation of the Master of the Feathery Clouds, a painter
who worked both in Utrecht and in Ghent.18 It occurred to me that the two other artists active
in XXV C 26 also had a connection to Utrecht. The style of the Master of Willem van
Bossuyt is related to that of Willem Vrelant, an illuminator who worked in Utrecht before
moving to Bruges between 1452 and 1454.19 The Master of Gerard Brilis collaborated on two
occasions with a documented Utrechter, Antonis uten Broec.20
Although Lieven van Lathem himself did not contribute to XXV C 26, his influence
on the illumination, especially the borders accompanying the full-page miniatures, is evident.
Van Lathem also has connections to Utrecht. He was apparently active in Utrecht, providing
border decoration in last part of a Book of Hours whose lead artist was the Master of
Catherine of Cleves (The Hague, Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, Ms. 10 F 50). This
was during the period after he left Ghent in the beginning of 1459 because of a dispute with
the Painter‟s Guild in that city and 1462 when he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke in
Antwerp.21 It was just about this time that the Master of the Feathery Clouds was working in
Utrecht on the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours (Brussels, Royal Library, Ms. II 7619). It is
certainly possible that Van Lathem and the Master of the Feathery Clouds could have
encountered each other during that period. Furthermore, there is at least one direct
iconographic connection in XXV C 26 with Utrecht: the depictions of the Virtues in the
historiated initials accompanying the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit by the Master of the
Feathery Clouds are closely related to a series by the same Master in the
Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours.
I finally decided to address the following question: What do the careers of the Master
of the Feathery Clouds, the Master of Willem van Bossuyt and the Master of Gerard Brilis,
and the relationship of their work in XXV C 26 to other manuscripts, tell us about manuscript
production in the Low Countries in the second half of the 15th century?
The first section of the thesis is a global description of the manuscript. I date the
manuscript to c. 1475 on the basis of a comparison of the full-page miniatures with other
work by the Master of Gerard Brilis and the relationship of the Coronation of the Virgin (f.
54v) to the miniature of the same subject (f. 61r) by Simon Marmion in the Berlaymont Hours
(San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1173) which are generally dated to the first half of the
1470s. I concur with Marrow that the inclusion in the calendar of many saints whose relics
were venerated at Sint-Pieters Abbey in Ghent indicates a connection to that location. The
penwork in the calendar is related to a number of manuscripts where Nicolas Spierinc of
Ghent was the scribe. I demonstrate that the decorated initials were probably executed by two
different hands. The texts included, and their order, are noteworthy. The Weekday Hours,
16
In the description I follow the model suggested by Prof. Biemans in the Toegepaste handschriftenkunde
seminar. I have relied heavily on the descriptions of XXV C 26 prepared by Prof. Biemans and my fellow
student, Mark Aussems, for the seminar, Het middeleeuwse boek. I readily acknowledge my indebtedness to
them. My thanks to Dr. Broekhuijsen for comparing my description with the manuscript itself.
17
James Marrow, e-mail 17 October 2008.
18
Marrow 2007, p. 175.
19
Marrow 2007, p. 187, note 21. Defoer et al. 1990, p. 116.
20
On the Carthusian Bible of Herne (now in Malmesbury) and on the Missal in Mondovi mentioned in note 9.
See Marrow 2007, p. 176. For Antonis uten Broec, see K. van der Hoek 2004.
21
De Schryver 2008, p. 46-47. Defoer et al. 1990, p. 163-164 (cat. No. 50).
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
which begin immediately following the calendar, are a typical feature of Books of Hours
produced in the Southern Netherlands in the 15th century.22 One unusual aspect of the content
is the section devoted to the female saints (f. 41v-53v) preceding the Hours of the Virgin (f.
54v-96r). The codicological evidence suggests that these texts are in their original order. An
analysis of the content of the book reinforces the impression that it was made to order, and not
purchased ready-made. Finally, there is a description of the stylistic characteristics of the
artists who illuminated the manuscript. As will be demonstrated, each of the artists has a
distinctive style which made the attribution of the painted decoration relatively
straightforward.
The second section focuses on the iconography of the Virtues by the Master of the
Feathery Clouds in the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit, which serves as a specific example
of an artist who worked in both the Northern and the Southern Netherlands returning to a
theme he used earlier in his career. I demonstrate that the Virtues in XXV C 26 are closely
related to a depiction of the Virtues by the same artist which accompanies the Short Hours of
the Holy Spirit in the Amerongen/Vronenstyen Hours in the Royal Library, Brussels (Ms. II
7619), which is considered to be one of the finest Books of Hours produced in the Northern
Netherlands in the second half of the 15th century. William Voelkle has shown that the
manner of depicting the Virtues in the Amerongen/Vronenstyen Hours relates to a new
iconography of the Virtues that originated in France earlier in the 15th century.23
Using XXV C 26 as a starting point, I show how artists worked on commissions in
different configurations, and in roles of varying importance, how compositions were re-used
and adapted and the degree of mobility of artists working the Northern and Southern
Netherlands. The Master of the Feathery Clouds is a striking example of the later
phenomenon: the depictions of the Virtues by this artist in XXV C 26, made in Ghent c. 1475,
are directly related to the Virtues in the the Amerongen/Vronenstyen Hours, made in Utrecht
c.1460 with an entirely different set of collaborators.
22
23
Wieck 2001, p. 105-106.
Voelkle 1989.
5
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Part 1 – Description of UBA, Ms. XXV C 26
Date and localization
The manuscript was produced in one campaign. Thus the discussion of dating and
localization applies to the entire manuscript. There is no internal evidence such as an
inscription or a computistic table which can used to date the manuscript. This must be done
on the basis of stylistic analysis and comparison with other works. The calendar, however,
provides a number of clear indications for locating the manuscript.
Wolf dates the manuscript to c. 1465.24 Marrow finds that XXV C 26 is a late work by
the Master of Gerard Brilis, most likely produced after 1465 and possibly as late as c. 1470. 25
The style of the full-page miniatures is, as far as I can determine from a comparison of highquality reproductions, more refined than that of other works by the Master of Gerard Brilis.26
This could be a reflection of the influence of Simon Marmion. Marrow rightly notes the
relationship between the Coronation of the Virgin on f. 54v (fig. 1) and a similar composition
in the Berlaymont Hours (San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1173, f. 61r) (fig. 2).27 The
latter is generally dated to the first half of the 1470s.28 The series of miniatures
accompanying the Hours of the Virgin in the Berlaymont Hours (ff. 28r, 35r, 44r, 47r, 50r,
53r, 56r, 61r)29 is in turn closely related to the miniatures by Simon Marmion accompanying
the Hours of the Virgin in the Trivulzio Hours (The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Ms.
SMC 1, ff. 166v, 186v, 199v, 205v, 211v, 217v, 223v, 232v) dating from c. 1470-1475.30
Wolf, citing remarks made by Antoine De Schryver at a congress on medieval manuscript
illumination in the Northern Netherlands (Utrecht, 10-13 December 1989), notes similarities
between the borders executed by Maître Y in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy (Vienna, ÖNB,
Cod. 1857) and those accompanying the full-pages miniatures in XXV C 26.31 The former,
like the Trivulzio Hours, is dated c. 1470-1475.32 If the Coronation of the Virgin in the
Amsterdam Hours derives from Simon Marmion‟s composition in the the Berlaymont Hours,
the former cannot pre-date the latter. Given the relationship of the Berlaymont Hours to the
Trivulzio Hours and the similarities between the borders accompanying the full-pages
miniatures in XXV C 26 and those by Maître Y in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy, I think it
is possible to date the Amsterdam Hours nearer to 1475.
Marrow states that XXV C 26 “has a graded liturgical calendar containing many rare
entries of saints whose relics were venerated in Sint-Pieters Abbey in Ghent.”33 He does not,
however, specify which saints these are. In order to ascertain the identity of at least some of
them, I compared the entries in the calendar of XXV C 26 to Clark‟s useful Table of strictly
regional feasts in calendars printed or written for Southern Netherlandish and contiguous
dioceses, abbeys and colleges before 1559.34 As Clark notes, although most of the saints
24
Wolf 1996, p. 316.
Marrow 2007, p. 176.
26
This will be discussed in greater detail below, p. 20.
27
Marrow 2007, p. 175, 188 (note 24). Reproduced Thorpe 1976, plate 14. Marrow 2007, p. 176, also relates the
landscape setting of the Visitation (f. 72v) in the Amsterdam Hours to landscape in a Crucifixion by Marmion in
the Ponitifical of the Church Sens (Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Ms. 9215, f. 129r).
28
Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 108 (under cat. no. 12)
29
Reproduced in Thorpe 1976, plates 7-14. Also via
http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/dsheh/heh_brf?Description=&CallNumber=HM+1173 (consulted April 2011).
30
Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 132 (under cat. no. 17). Reproductions of the miniatures by Marmion in the
Trivulzio Hours via http://www.kb.nl/galerie/trivulzio/index.html (consulted November 2008).
31
Wolf 1996, p. 102-103, 208. The possibility that Hand D of XXV C 26 is Maître Y of ÖNB Cod. 1857 is
discussed below p. 35.
32
Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 137 (under cat. no. 19).
33
Marrow 2007, p. 175.
34
Clark 2000, Appendix III, p. 289-330.
25
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
celebrated at the Abbey of St. Bavo in Ghent also appear in the calendar of St. Pieters (and
vice versa), the gradings differ between the two rival abbeys.35 The saints venerated at St.
Pieters which occur in the calendar of XXV C 26 are listed below. Entries in the calendar in
red are given in bold (unless otherwise indicated, simplex). I follow the terminology used in
Clark‟s table and give the information from this source in italics.36
February, f. 3v-4r
5
Depositio Bertulfi abb cf, duplex
Relics of Bertulph transferred to St. Pieters in the 10th century.
9
Ansberti ep cf, duplex
Relics of Ansbert translated to St. Pieters in 944.
March, f.4v-5r
3
Winwaloëi abb
Relics of Winwaloe probably transferred to St. Pieters in the 10th century.
20
Wulfranni ep cf
Relics of Wulfram translated to St. Pieters in 944.
31
Translatio Wandregisili abb cf. Ansberti ep cf, et Wulfranni ep cf
Translation of relics of Wandrille, Ansbert and Wulfram to St. Pieters in 944.
April, f. 5v-6r
19
Elevatio corporis Floriberti abb
Elevation of Floribert, first abbot of St. Bavo, the possession of whose relics
was claimed by both that abbey and St. Pieters in the 11th century.
30
Depositio Eremberti ep (with red annotations)
Deposition of Erembert whose relics were translated to St. Pieters in 944.
May, f. 6v-7r
20
Translatio Gurvali ep et Bertulfi abb
Relics of Gudwall and Bertulph translated to St. Pieters in the tenth century.
27
Octava translationis Gurvali ep et Bertulfi abb
June, f. 7v-8r
6
Gurvali ep, duplex (?)
25
Adalberti
July, f. 8v-9r
10
Amalberge v, duplex
Relics of Amelberga transferred to St. Pieters in 864.
17
Octava Amalberga v
22
Depositio Wandregisili abb cf
Relics of Wandrille translated to St. Pieters 944. Quite widely celebrated.
29
Octava depositionis Wandregisili abb cf
August, f. 9v-10r
1
Translatio Winaloëi abb
September, f. 10v-11r
3
Adventus Wandregisili abb cf, Ansberti ep cf, et Wulfranni ep cf, duplex
10
Octava Wandregisili abb cf, Ansbert ep cf, et Wulfranni ep cf
35
Clark 2000, p. 290.
I do not specify the page numbers because it is a straightforward matter to find the relevant dates in Clark‟s
table.
36
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
October, 11v-12r
1
Deposito Bavonis cf
Widely celebrated.
15
Wulfranni ep cf (with elaborate penwork)
27
Adventus Amalberge v
November, 12v-13r
2
Floriberti ab
December, 13v-14r
3
Adventus Gurvali ep et Bertulfi abb
The inclusion of so many saints related to the Abbey of St. Pieters in Ghent in the calendar of
the Amsterdam Hours indicates a strong connection between XXV C 26 and that place. It is
perhaps also relevant that the Master of the Feathery Clouds (Hand A) contributed the
frontispiece to the Eerste privilegieboek van de Sint-Pietersabdij te Gent, 1460, Ghent,
Rijksarchief, Fonds Bisdom, Ms. B 2956.37
Script and penwork
The text of the manuscript was written by one hand in a littera hybrida (bastarda). The
ink used throughout is dark brownish black. There are minor corrections on folios 70v, 71r,
107r, and 124r.
The majority of the penwork occurs in the calendar (figs. 3a and 3b).38 Wolf relates
the penwork in the calendar of XXV C 26 to that in Stuttgart, Landesbibl., Cod.brev.162
(Sachensheim-Gebetbuch).39 She in turn relates the penwork in the Stuttgart manuscript to
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ms. James 143; Paris, BN, Ms. n.a. lat. 215; Los Angeles,
Getty Museum, Ms. 37 (Prayer Book of Charles the Bold) and Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1857
(Hours of Mary of Burgundy).40
In his discussion of the dating of a Book of Hours in Darmstadt (Hess.L- u HSB
1008), Brinkmann links the penwork the Hours of Mary of Burgundy to the manuscripts
mentioned by Wolf (except for Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ms. James 143, but
including XXV C 26) and also to Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Douce 219-220 and Madrid,
BN, Ms. Vit. 24-10.41 Kren and McKendrick relate the penwork in the Prayer Book of
Charles the Bold to the works mentioned by Wolf (including XXV C 26) and also mention a
connection to Madrid, BN, Ms. Vit.25-5 (Voustre Demeure Hours).42
Nicolas Spierinc is the scribe in four of the manuscripts with penwork considered
comparable to that in XXV C 26: the Prayer Book of Charles the Bold; the Hours of Mary of
Burgundy, the Voustre Demeure Hours and Madrid, BN, Ms. Vit. 24-10.43 This could
37
See De Schryver et al. 1975, vol. II, p. 362-363 (cat. no. 594). Reproduced in colour, Smeyers 1998, p. 277,
fig. 65.
38
There is also penwork on folios 15v, 31v, 33r, 62v, 63r, 66v, 67r, 69r, 78r, 101r, 102r, 116r and 140r.
39
Wolf, 1996, p. 237: Motivisch verwandt mit dem Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, aber jedoch eckiger und kantiger,
weniger ausholend, nicht so lang ausgezogen.
40
Wolf, 1996, p. 250, 294.
41
Brinkman 1992, vol.1, p. 238, note 16. It is worth noting that Dogaer, 1987, p. 133, finds that the illumination
in two of the manuscripts mentioned in the discussion of the penwork (Paris, BN, Ms. n.a. lat. 215 and Madrid,
BN, Ms. Vit. 24-10) is stylistically similar to that in XXV C 26.
42
Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 131, note 14.
43
Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 128 (under cat. no. 16), 137 (under cat. no. 19) and p. 142 (under cat. no. 20)
and De Schryver, 2008, p. 76, respectively.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
possibly be relevant to the attribution of the script of the Tenschert Hours to Spierinc.44 I do
not have the necessary palaeographical skills to make an informed judgement on the matter,
but it would seem to merit further investigation.
Decoration
The beginning of a text is signalled by a historiated initial (see below under
Illumination) or a decorated initial 4 to 5 lines high. The colour of the ground alternates
between blue and terra cotta (in gathering 13, red). A terra cotta (or red) letter is painted on a
blue ground and vice versa. The initials are decorated with filigree in white or gold paint.
The line endings are executed in the same manner. The use of gold leaf is restricted to the
calendar and f. 104r (beginning of the litany). The decorative motif of a blue cross on a gold
ground alternating with a gold cross on a blue ground (one line high) appears only on ff. 163rv. These decorative exceptions are probably indications that the texts they accompany were
considered especially important.
The decoration is not of uniform quality, and is possibly executed by two different
hands. Compare, for example, the initials at the beginning of the Hours of St. Catherine (f.
41v, D) (fig. 4a) and the Hours of St. Barbara (f. 46r, M) (fig. 4b), both of which are four lines
high. The ends of the letter D curve gracefully into the margin, the white filigree on the blue
ground is finely modelled giving the initial a three-dimensional appearance and the slightly
asymmetrical gold filigree on the terra cotta ground in the eye of the initial conveys a sense of
movement. By contrast the M at the beginning of the Hours of St. Barbara looks flat and
lifeless; the gold filigree on the blue background between the legs of the initial hangs limply
instead of enlivening the space. A similar, if not even greater, contrast is evident in the letter
S at the beginning of the suffrage to St. Anthony Abbot (f. 147v) (fig. 4c) and the letter S at
the beginning of the suffrage to St. Mary Magdalene (f. 50v) (fig. 4d). The white filigree of
the former creates the illusion that the edge of the letter twists and turns; the filigree in the
latter makes a two-dimensional and static impression. It seems improbable that these initials
could have been executed by the same hand.
In both of the examples given above, the illumination on the pages with high quality
decorated initials (Type 1) is by Hand A; Hand B is responsible for the illumination on the
pages with less accomplished decoration (Type 2). Type 1 decoration primarily occurs in
connection with illumination by Hand A. Type 2 decoration always accompanies illumination
by Hand B, but sometimes also occurs with illumination by Hand A, for example on ff. 23r,
25r and 26v. The decoration accompanying illumination by Hand A is not always of a
superior quality. In the Horae pro fidelibus defunctis (f.18v-21v), for example, the decoration
has a sketchy quality; on f. 20r it even appears to be unfinished.
Content
A Book of Hours contains a number of standards texts: a calendar, the Hours of the
Virgin, the Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany, the Office of the Dead and suffrages to
various saints.45 There is, however, a great variety possible in the choice of the remaining
texts. There is no systematic survey of the occurrence and order of texts in Books of Hours,
so it is not possible to determine with complete certainty the degree to which the texts
44
See below, p. 21.
Wieck 2001, p. 28. The text of XXV C 26 is complete, except for the beginning of the Hours of the Dead,
originally between sheets 18 and 19. See Verbeek 2008, p. 18.
45
9
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
included in XXV C 26 and their order is exceptional.46 In my opinion, there are a number of
unusual aspects which merit special attention.
As Korteweg notes, offices for the seven days of the week are a typical feature of
Books of Hours produced in the Southern Netherlands.47 The usual order is as follows:
Sunday, Holy Trinity; Monday, Hours of the Dead; Tuesday, Holy Spirit; Wednesday, All
Saints; Thursday, Holy Sacrament; Friday, Holy Cross and Saturday, Virgin Mary. In XXV
C 26, the Weekday Hours begin in the third gathering following the calendar with the Sunday
Hours of the Holy Trinity (f. 15r-18v). The subsequent Hours conform to the order
mentioned above through the Thursday Hours of the Sacrament (f. 27r-29r).48 One would
expect that this would be followed the Friday Hours of the Holy Cross. In XXV C 26,
however, the Hours of the Passion of the Lord and the Compassion of the Blessed Mary (f.
30r-33v) come next and are the last office in the sequence. The Weekday Hours are followed
by a rather lengthy prayer (f. 33v-36v) to the venerable Bede, a saint not automatically
associated with the Low Countries.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of XXV C 26 is the section devoted to female saints
(f. 41v-53v) preceding the Hours of the Virgin (f. 54v-96r). This begins with the Hours of
Saint Catherine (f. 41r-45v), followed by the Hours of Saint Barbara (f. 46r-48v) and
suffrages to nine female saints (f. 49r-53v). The suffrages to the male saints begin on f. 147r,
where one would expect them to occur, after the Hours of the Virgin, the Seven Penitential
Psalms and Litany and the Office of the Dead.
The codicological evidence confirms that the Hours of St. Catherine are in their
original place. The fifth gathering (f. 30-37) includes the last of the Weekday Hours (f.30r33v) and ends with a prayer, Oratio devota ad dominum, which begins on f. 37r and continues
into the sixth gathering (f. 38-45), ending on f. 41r. The Hours of Saint Catherine begin
immediately thereafter in the same gathering on f. 41v. The Hours of Saint Barbara and
suffrages to the female saints are all contained in the seventh gathering (f. 46-53). Although
this gathering could have originally had another location in the manuscript, it seems likely,
and logical, that the Hours of Saint Catherine would be followed by the Hours of Saint
Barbara. The remnant of a catchword is visible on f. 54r, just before the beginning of the
Hours of the Virgin, which would indicate that, unless this was ignored at the time the codex
was rebound, the beginning of the Hours of the Virgin followed the Hours of Saint Barbara
and the suffrages to the female saints.
The Hours of the Virgin are contained in gatherings eight to twelve (f. 54-96), and are
followed by the Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany (f. 97v-109r) which begin in gathering
thirteen (f. 97-105) and continue into gathering fourteen (f. 106-113). There is also the
remnant of a catchword preceding the Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany (f. 97r), which
would indicate that these are also most probably in their original location. The Office of the
Dead (f. 110v-135r) begins in gathering fourteen and ends in the middle of gathering
seventeen (f.130-137).49
The codiocological evidence strongly indicates that gatherings three to seventeen
containing these key texts, the Weekday Hours, the Hours of Saints Catherine, the Hours of
Saint Barbara, the suffrages to the female saints, the Hours of the Virgin, Seven Penitential
Psalms and Litany and the Office of the Dead, are in their original sequence. It could be
46
Neither Kate Rudy nor Klara Broekhuijsen knew of such survey. See Appendix I for a list of the texts in XXV
C 26. According to Korteweg 2005, p. 147, note 1, Leroquis 1927-1943, remains the best source for the texts in
Books of Hours.
47
Korteweg 2005, p. 137. See also Wieck 2001, p. 105-106. The Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (Stuttgart,
Landesbibliothek., Cod.brev.162) also includes the Weekday Hours, ff.43r-93v.
48
The day of the week is only specifically mentioned in the incipit for the Hours of the Holy Trinity and the
Hours of the Sacrament.
49
The remains of a third catchword can be found at the beginning of gathering fifteen (f. 114-121).
10
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
argued that these fifteen gatherings were re-positioned as a unit when the codex was rebound,
but it seems more probable to conclude that the texts in XXV C 26 are in their original order.
The only Dutch in the manuscript is the incipit on f. 162v: Dit is een sonderlinghe
oratie. Ende die suldi smorghens lesen tijlijc.
Judging from the texts included and their order, it would seem safe to conclude that
the patron who ordered the Amsterdam Hours was not in the market for a prêt-à-porter Book
of Hours. This conclusion is further supported when one considers the extent and quality of
the illumination that accompanies the texts and its iconography.
Illumination
The illumination was carried out by four unidentified artists: Hand A, the Master of
the Feathery Clouds/Meester van de Vederwolken (also known as the Master of the London
Passional); Hand B, the Master of Willem van Bossuyt; Hand C, the Master of Gerard Brilis
and Hand D, an artist executing borders in the style of Lieven van Lathem. There is a clear
division of labour among the artists. There are only two instances where Hands A and B are
active in the same gathering. In the third and eighteenth gatherings, only the column
miniatures on f. 15r and f. 145r, respectively, are by Hand B; the rest of the illumination in
these gatherings was carried out by Hand A. The roles of Hands C and D are also clearly
delineated: Hand C is responsible for the full-page miniatures; Hand D provided the
accompanying borders.
Hand A - Master of the Feathery Clouds
This anonymous artist was dubbed the Meester van de Vedervolken by Hoogewerff in
1936.50 A year later, he was given another name by Byvanck, the Master of the London
Passional.51 Of the hands active in XXV C 26, the Master of the Feathery Clouds (MFC) is
the best-defined. Some scholars maintain that he was active in the Southern Netherlands c.
1450-1460 before coming to Utrecht to participate in a number of important commissions.52
Others see him as a Northern artist who was also active in the Southern Netherlands.53 Much
of the literature deals with his borrowing compositions and motifs from woodcuts, for
example from the Biblia Pauperum.54 The historiated initials by the MFC in XXV C 26 which
accompany the Monday Hours of the Dead are based on woodcuts illustrating the Ars
moriendi. 55 Scillia has argued that the MFC did not only borrow from woodcuts for his
illumination, but that he also designed them.56
Style
As Delaissé noted, the style of the MFC is easily recognizable.57 His figures have
large, angular hands and round heads that are frequently disproportionately large in respect to
their stocky bodies. A striking characteristic of facial types is the heavy, puffy eyelids and
eyes with prominent pupils which are mostly not in the centre of the eye. His skies are an
intense blue with small parallel cirrus clouds, the feathery clouds which feature in one of his
50
Hoogewerff 1936, part 1, p. 537-544.
Byvanck 1937, p. 89-91. The manuscript from which the name derives is London, British Library, Add.
18162.
52
See, for example, Cardon 1996, p. 412.
53
Marrow 1987, p. 307-308. Van der Bergen 2009, p. 86, refers to him as the “Utrechtse Meester van de
Vederwolken.” Scillia 1982, p. 25, states that he began his career as a peripheral member in the circle of the
Master of Evert Zoudenbalch.
54
See Smeyers 1975, Koch 1977, Scillia 1982, Henry 1983, Cardon and Smeyers 1989 and Cardon 1996.
55
See Verbeek 2008.
56
Scillia 1982.
57
Delaissé 1949, p.240.
51
11
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
names of convenience. His landscapes are fairly simple. The figures are primarily confined
to the foreground, and the impression of space is created by overlapping hills, a river or a
winding road. There are often stylized trees on either side of the scene whose leaves are
depicted as a green ground with parallel brownish stripes and dark stipples along the top and
edges. His mastery of perspective is not perfect. In scenes which take place indoors, he tries
to create a sense of receding space with a tiled floor, but this does not always relate logically
to the rest of the interior. His border decoration is, in my opinion, fairly accomplished. He
includes birds (especially owls and peacocks), butterflies, bears and assorted drôleries among
the acanthus and stylized flowers.
His work is generally characterized as mediocre and rather crude. Delaissé says that
his technique is vulgar and heavy; Scillia calls his style homely and inelegant.58 Both have to
admit, however, that his work has a certain liveliness and directness.
Works/collaboration
In spite of the shortcomings perceived by 20th century art historians, the MFC
participated in a number of important commissions and was also the main artist two large
scale manuscripts. Delaissé notes that the MFC was “perhaps the most prolific illuminator in
Utrecht around 1460.”59
In addition to XXV C 26, Marrow identifies five manuscripts from the Southern
Netherlands with illumination by the MFC:60
 Book of Hours, c. 1450, Brussels, KBA, Ms. IV 194
 Book of Hours, c. 1450, Madrid, BN, Ms. Vitr. 24-10
 Platearius, Le livre des simples medicines, second half 15th century, Paris, BN,
fr. 623
 Pierre de Vaux, Vie de soeur Colette, c. 1460, Brussels, KBA, Ms. 10980
 Eerste privilegieboek van de Sint-Pietersabdij te Gent, 1460, Ghent,
Rijksarchief, Fonds Bisdom, Ms. B 2956
Cardon has indicated that the 69 pen drawings illustrating the Speculum Humanae Salvationis
(Oxford, Bodeleian Library, Ms. Douce f4) “can be situated in the surroundings of the Master
of the Feathery Clouds at the time he was still working in the Southern Netherlands, in
between 1450-1460.”61
Beginning c. 1460, the MFC was active in the circle of the Utrecht Master of Evert
Zoudenbalch where he contributed to two major manuscripts: the Amerongen/Vronensteyn
Hours, c. 1460, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619 and the Bible of Evert Zoudenbalch, c. 1465,
Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 2771-2772. The Master of Gijsbrecht van Brederode also worked on the
second manuscript. He and the MFC collaborated on a Book of Hours, c. 1465, Liège,
University Library, Ms. Wittert 34; the Master of Gijsbrecht van Brederode was responsible
for the 12 historiated initials and the MFC painted the borders on the pages marking the major
textual divisions.62
The fluidity of artistic connections within this context can be illustrated by the
following example. The Master of Gijsbrecht van Brederode possibly collaborated with the
58
Ibid., p.240 and Scillia 1982, p. 25.
Delaissé 1968, p. 72.
60
Marrow 1987, p. 308, note 27.
61
Cardon 1996, p.412. According Cardon the drawings are connected to graphics: engravings by the Master
with the Banderoles, Master E.S. and illustrations in the North Netherlandish xylographic edition of the Biblia
Pauperum. Images via
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/view/search/what/MS.+Douce+f.+4/?sort=Shelfmark%2CFoli
o_Page%2CRoll_&q=Title%3DSpeculum+humanae+LIMIT%3AODLodl%7E1%7E1&pgs=50&res=1&cic=O
DLodl%7E1%7E1 (accessed October 2011)
62
Defour et al. 1990, p. 214 (cat. no. 68).
59
12
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Master of the Boston City of God/ Antonis Rogiersz. uten Broec on a Book of Hours, c. 14601465, Cleveland, Otto F. Ege.63 Antonis Rogiersz. uten Broec in turn, worked with the Master
of Gerard Brilis on the Missal in Mondovi and the Carthusian Bible from Herne
(Malmesbury). And, of course, the Master of Gerard Brilis and the MFC worked together on
XXV C 26.
The MFC did not always merely play a secondary role in the production of
manuscripts. There are two large scale works for which he provided the illumination, the first
part of a History Bible, c. 1467, The Hague, Koninklijke Biblotheek, 78 D 39 and a
Passyonael van den Heyligen, van den helen jaer (London Passional), c. 1465-1470, British
Library, Add. 18162.64 There are also a number of Books of Hours in which he was the
principle artist, The Hague, Rijksmuseum Meermanno-Westreenianum (RMW), Ms. 10 F 3,
c. 1465-1470 and Utrecht, Rijksmuseum Het Catharijneconvent. (RMCC), ABM 21 and
ABM 22, both c. 1460-1475 and a Life of St. Francis, third quarter of the 15th century,
Rotterdam, Gemeentebibliotheek, Ms. 96 B 4. All of these manuscripts were produced in the
Northern Netherlands and are in Dutch.
The MFC in XXV C 26
The MFC is responsible for the illumination (11 column miniatures and 54 historiated
initials) including the borders in gatherings 3 (except for the column miniature of the Mercy
Seat on f. 15r), 4-6, 13, 14, 18 (except for the column miniature of the Presentation of the
Temple on f. 145v) and 19.65
The subjects depicted are narrative (column miniature of Pentecost, f. 22r, historiated
initials of the story of Joachim and Anna and the early life of the Virgin accompanying the
Wednesday Hours of All Saints in gathering 4), allegorical (historiated initials with allegories
of the Virtues accompanying the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit in gathering 4)66 or
devotional (column miniature of the Madonna on the crescent moon, f. 142r, historiated initial
of a soul being taken up into heaven, f. 111r). As Vermeeren notes, this type of subject matter
is typical of the MFC.67 Less common are representations of saints accompanying suffrages.
One would certainly expect these in the London Passional, a Flemish translation of Jacobus de
Voragine‟s Legenda aurea (with 35 additional saints‟ lives), but, as Vermeeren remarks with
some astonishment, not a single saint‟s legend is illustrated.68 There is a depiction of the
beheading of St. Barbara by the MFC in the border of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Douce
381, f. 85r; the miniature is attributed to Master B of the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours.69
Judging from the reproductions available, I think it is possible that at least three other folios in
Ms. Douce 381 have borders with illumination by the MFC: f. 80r* [sic] (Angels in upper
border, peacock at right; compare with angels in upper border of British Library, Add. 18162,
f. 19r); f. 81r (Judge upper right corner, martyrdom St. Christopher at right) and f. 87r (right
63
Ibid., p. 212-213 (cat. no. 66)
The second part of the History Bible is in Ghent, University Library, Ms. 632. Judging from the reproductions
in Henry 1983, the illumination is not by the MFC. The compositions for the illumination in both parts are
related to the Biblia Pauperum.
65
My fellow students in the “handengroep” thought that the column miniature on f. 15r was the only
contribution to the manuscript by a fourth artist, but I agree with Marrow 2007, page 188, note 21, that this is by
Hand B. The column miniature on f. 145v is also by Hand B. See Appendix 2 for an overview of the subjects of
the illumination and the hands responsible.
66
These are based on the depictions of the Virtues by the MFC accompanying the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit
in the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours (Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, c.1460), ff. 74r, 78r, 83v, 86r, 88r, 90v and
93v.
67
Vermeeren, 1959, p. 202-203.
68
Vermeeren, 1959, p. 201. On p. 203 he states “dat in het gehele tot nu toe bekende oeuvre van deze meester
[i.e. the MFC] géén op het feesteigen der heiligen betrokken verluchting aanwijsbaar is.”
69
See Scillia 1982, p. 34 and Delaisse 1968, p. 49, fig.109.
64
13
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
border, St. Veronica holding out a cloth to Christ carrying the cross; man with three
nails/spikes).70
In XXV C 26, there are fifteen representations of saints by the MFC, a column
miniature of St. Catherine on f. f. 41v and 6 column miniatures and 8 historiated initials
accompanying the suffrages to the male saints in gathering 19. These column miniatures of
saints show, in my opinion, some of the best work in the MFC‟s oeuvre. He takes pains to
place the figures in relatively detailed setting (he is of course constrained by the space
available, 60x35 mm), and the saints are carefully modelled. In two cases, the border
decoration specifically relates to the saint depicted: the suffrage to St. Anthony Abbot on f.
147v includes a temptress riding a swine at lower left and the suffrage to St. Adrian on f. 150r
(fig. 5) contains a scene of his martyrdom at lower left. In other instances, there are vignettes
in the border with depictions of the world upside down (mundus inversus): f. 147r (suffrage to
St. James) (fig. 6), frog in a robber‟s cape cutting the throat of a stork; f. 149r (suffrage to St.
Sebastian), hare/rabbit pushing a man in a wheelbarrow and f. 153v (suffrage to St. Daniel,
historiated initial) hare/rabbit pushing a dog in a wheelbarrow. A fox pulling a bird cage on a
sledge accompanies the suffrage to St. George, f. 149v. The high quality of the depictions of
the saints and the elaborate border decoration might be attributable to the importance of the
commission.71
The most attractive openings in the manuscript are those where the full page
miniatures of the Master of Gerard Brilis are faced by a page with illumination by the MFC.
The folio opposite the miniature of David in Prayer (f. 98r) (fig. 7) depicts David looking out
from his palace in an historiated initial. In the roundel at the bottom of the page, we see the
bathing Bathsheba who bears a striking resemblance to the temptress on f. 147v. This
provides a fitting illustration to accompany the Seven Penitential Psalms for it is the
beginning of the chain of events which leads David to commit adultery with Bathsheba and
for him to arrange for the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, in battle. 72 It is noteworthy
that David sees Bathsheba from a separate area of the page; he looks, as it were, across the
text and to see her in the border. A figure at lower right appears to look at Bathsheba over his
shoulder.73 This sort of interaction across different fields of the page can also be seen on f.
57v of the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek., Cod.brev.162). Here God
the Father in the border at upper left has sent out the dove of the Holy Spirit into the miniature
of Pentecost by the Master of Gerard Brilis to the right. This in turn is reminiscent of the
depiction of God the Father in an historiated initial sending out the dove of the Holy Spirit to
the scene of the Baptism of Christ at the bottom of f. 93v of the Turin Milan Hours.74
The miniature of the Raising of Lazarus is faced by another page richly decorated by
the MFC (ff. 110v and 111r) marking the beginning of the Office of the Dead. The historiated
initial contains a depiction of a soul being taken up into heaven against a blue background
with gold stars. In the border, a dog confronts a unicorn at the bottom and a man is harvesting
meticulously rendered grapes at right, perhaps a Eucharistic allusion.
If one‟s knowledge of the style of the MFC and the Master of Gerard Brilis was based
only on their work in XXV C 26, it would seem unlikely that their hands could be confused.
However, in three instances where Marrow believes the Master of Gerard Brilis is active,
Cardon and Smeyers attribute the illumination to the MFC: the Breviary of Grammont, 144970
Reproductions of Ms. Douce 381 via http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/s/0vs62u (consulted
30 December 2010). I am grateful to Kate Rudy for sharing her images of British Library, Add. 18162 with me.
71
Rudy 2009, p. 202, suggests that XXV C 26 was commissioned “by a high functionary of the Sint-Peterskerk
in Ghent.”
72
The story takes place in 2 Samuel, chapter 11.
73
A similar figure appears in the right border of Madrid, BN, Ms. Vitr. 24-10, f. 84r, but he is looking at the
miniature of the Annunciation to the Shepherds to the left (reproduced De Schryver 2008, p. 163, fig. 50).
74
Turin, Museo Civico d‟Arte Antica, Ms. 97. Reproduced Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 82, fig. 39.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
1450, Maredsous, Bibl. de l‟Abbaye, Ms. Fº/3/1-4; the Carthusian Bible from Scheut, 1460,
Brussels, KB, Ms. 201-203, 167 and the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, c. 1455-1460.75 They are
not the only ones who mention the MFC in connection with the Breviary of Grammont and
the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch. In his discussion of the relationship of the Stuttgart manuscript
to the work of Lieven van Lathem, De Schyrver states that the style of “Master B of the
Sachsenheim Hours is close to that of the Master of the Feathery Clouds,” and also says that
Master B had previously worked on the Breviary of Grammont.76 The Dutch character of the
Stuttgart manuscript was first noted by Delaissé, who found that the originality of the
iconography was reminiscent of contemporary Dutch Books of Hours, and also indicated that
it possibly provided evidence for the presence of artists from the Northern Netherlands in
Flanders who had not yet adapted their style to their new surroundings.77 One specific
connection is the motif of a couple being married in a historiated initial attributed to the
Master of Gijsbrecht van Brederode in the Bible of Evert Zoudenbalch which also appears in
an elongated medallion in the border by the MGB in Cod.brev 162, f. 127r.78
A comparison of the miniature of the Madonna and Child with two female saints by
the Master of Gerard Brilis in the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (f. 95r) (fig. 8) with the miniatures
of the Madonna of Humility and the Madonna on the Crescent Moon by the MFC in XXX C
26 (ff. 25r and 142r, respectively) (figs. 9a and 9b) does indeed show a number of similarities:
the boxy shape of the body of the Christ Child, the large hands of the Virgin, the facial types
of the female figures and their long, reddish brown hair. Although these similarities may not
be close enough to warrant an attribution of the work of Hand B in the Stuttgart manuscript to
the MFC, I think it is possible to conclude that, at least during a certain period in their careers,
the styles of these two masters had something in common.
Hand B – Master of Willem van Bossuyt
The Master of Willem van Bossuyt (MWvB) was identified by Marrow in 2007. He
attributed illumination in eight manuscripts to this Master, including XXV C 26. Willem van
Bossuyt was abbot of St. Bavon, Ghent, between 1418 and 1457. The name work is a Missal
(London, British Library, Add. 17440) which the MWvB illuminated for use on an altar
commissioned and endowed by Van Bossuyt. Although there is limited documentation for
some of the works attributed to the MWvB, there is nothing specifically written about him
except for Marrow‟s brief discussion.79
Style
The MWvB was obviously influenced by the prolific Willem Vrelant, an illuminator
known to have worked in Utrecht before moving to Bruges between 1452 and 1454.80
Compare, for example, the Mercy Seat/Trinity on f. 15r of XXV C 26 with the depiction of
the same subject in a Books of Hours illuminated by Vrelant c. 1460 (The Hague, Koninklijke
Bibliotheek, Ms. 76 F 7, f. 15v) (figs. 10 and 11). The compositions are almost identical and
the depiction of the figures shares a two-dimensional quality. A comparison of two female
saints from these manuscripts shows that, although the MWvB works in the style of Willem
Vrelant, his work is more simplistic and less refined (St. Christina, XXV C 26, f. 52va and
St.Catherine, 76 F 7, f. 27v) (figs. 12 and 13).
75
See Cardon and Smeyers 1989, p. 85-86.
De Schryver 2008, p. 177. On page 176 De Schryver states that he is now convinced that Lieven van Lathem
did not contribute to the Stuttgart manuscript.
77
Delaissé 1959, p. 168-169 (cat. no. 206).
78
ÖNB, Cod. 2772, f. 10r. Reproduced Defoer, H.L.M. et al., 1990, p. 203, fig. 107 (under cat. no. 61). See De
Schryver 2008, p. 177.
79
Marrow 2007, p. 175 and 187-188 (note 21).
80
Defoer et al. 1990, p. 116, 161-162 and Marrow 2007, p. 187 (note 21).
76
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
His elongated figures have oval faces on thin necks. The facial expressions are
consistently doll-like, frequently bordering on the vacuous. He employs bright colours which
have an almost opaque quality, and defines his figures with a dark outline. His use of tiled
floors to create a feeling of depth sometimes results in a clash of patterns and colours (XXV
C26, f. 49r, for example), but the interiors remain flat and airless. Like the Master of the
Feathery Clouds, he includes fruit, flowers, birds, animals and drolleries in his borders. These
share the linear, naïve quality of his column miniatures and historiated initials.
Works/collaboration
Of the eight manuscripts which Marrow attributes to the MWvB, two were made for
known patrons: the name manuscript in the British Library dated 1483 and a Book of Hours
made in Ghent for Jacob Donche, counsellor to Philip the Good, and his second wife, Philippa
Utenhove, possibly on the occasion of their marriage in 1473 (Claremont, CA, Scripps
College, Denison Library, Kirby Ms. 1).81 A Book of Hours in Latin and Dutch which was
auctioned at Christie‟s, London, in 2001, was presumably made for the couple shown praying
in historiated initials on ff. 21r and 82r.82
The five remaining manuscripts are all works for personal devotion: Prayer Book, c.
1475, private collection, Pennsylvania; Book of Hours, c. 1470, Sale, Christie‟s London, 17
November 2004 (lot 19); Book of Hours, c. 1450-1460, Turin, Museo Civico d‟arte Antica,
inv. no. 449/M; Book of Hours, second half of the 15th century, New York Public Library,
MA 39; Book of Hours, c. 1450, Rostock, Universitätsbibliothek, Ms. theol. 25 and XXV C
26.83
The Christie‟s sale catalogues are virtually the only sources that attempt to relate
works attributed to the MWvB to other manuscripts.84 In the catalogue of the 2001 sale, the
illumination is attributed to the Master of the Vraie cronicque descoce (also know as the St.
Hadrian Master), an artist whose style derives from Willem Vrelant. Bernard Bousmanne
attributed 27 works to this artist, including a Book of Hours in the Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore (W. 195) and Book of Hours in the Huntington Museum, San Marino (HM 1136).85
The catalogue of the 2004 sale notes that the simplified figures with features drawn in brown
in the manuscript in that sale are close to a Book of Hours, Walters Art Museum (W. 229).
Randall notes that the pictorial programme in W. 229 relies on the same designs that were
used in W. 195.86
The Book of Hours in Turin contains a full-page miniature of the Last Judgment (f.
121v) where only the heads of the figures emerging from the ground are depicted.87 This
detail also occurs in KB 76 F 7, f. 112v. The Last Judgement in the Book of Hours in
81
Ibid. and Dutschke and Rouse 1986, p. 85-89, figs. 26-28. Colour reproductions of some of the illumination
via http://www.uncius.be/genea/kirby/index.html and http://www.uncius.be/genea/kirby/global2.html
(consulted January 2011).
82
Christie‟s [auction cat.] London, 9 July 2001. (lot 23).
83
For additional information, see Marrow 2007, p. 187-188 (note 21).
84
Christie‟s [auction cat.] London, 9 July 2001 (lot 23) via
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=2092990&CID=5447010005801a (consulted
January 2011) and Christie‟s [auction cat.] London, 17 November 2004. (lot 19) via
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4393918&CID=5447010005801a (consulted
January 2011). Of course, he is not called the Master of Willem van Bossuyt in these sources since Marrow
identified the artist several years later.
85
Bousmanne 1997, p. 58. Alain Arnould, in a review of Bousmanne (Burlington Magazine, 140 (1998)1146, p.
625-626), attributes several additional works to the Master of the Vraie cronicque descoce. For W. 195, see
Randall 1997, part I, p. 326-331 (cat. 265); part II, figs. 501, 502 and 585. Reproductions of HM 1136 are
available via the Digital Scriptorium http://scriptorium.columbia.edu/ (consulted January 2011).
86
Randall 1997, part I, p. 331-334 (cat. 266); part II, figs. 503, 586.
87
Reproduced in Bernard and Pagella, p. 44 (cat. 10).
16
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Rostock (f. 142r) includes the Gate of Paradise and the Mouth of Hell that are in the Turin
depiction, but the figures coming out of their graves are shown from the waist up.88
Of the works attributed to the MWvB by Marrow, only XXV C 26 and the Book of
Hours in New York have illumination by other artists. There are eleven full-page miniatures
in the latter. Five of these, which introduce all the major texts, are attributed to the MWvB.
Marrow attributes the remaining six to one of the Masters of the Beady (or Narrow) Eyes
(Maîtres aux Yeux Bridés), who were primarily active in Ghent.89 Apart from Marrow, the
only information I could find on the New York Book of Hours is the record in the Digital
Scriptorium.90 There are images available of two full-page miniatures, Crucifixion on f. 7v
and Pentecost on f. 14v (subject incorrectly given as the Death of the Virgin) both of which
appear to be by the same artist. The text on f. 8r is identified as the opening of a main text
(The Hours of the Holy Cross). If Marrow also considered this an opening of a main text,
then according to him, the miniature on f. 7v should be by the MWvB.91 After comparing the
image of the Crucifixion in the Digital Scriptorium with the work of the MWvB in XXV C26,
I am not entirely convinced that this is the same hand. The palette in the New York
manuscript is less bright (almost chalky) and the facial types lack the doll-like expression that
occurs so frequently in XXV C26. The modelling of the face and throat of St. John is also
different from the faces in XXV C26, for example, the face of Christ in the historiated initial
on f. 162r.
All of the work attributed to the MWvB by Marrow is in the style of Willem Vrelant.
Because of the sparse documentation available for these manuscripts, it has been impossible
for me to get a really clear picture of oeuvre of the MWvB as a whole. In the reproductions I
have been able to find, I see a number of variations in style which make me wonder whether
all this work is by the same hand. It is, however, far beyond the scope of this thesis to attempt
to resolve this in any satisfactory manner; the idea of entering the Willem Vrelant quagmire is
really too daunting for a mere Masters student.
The MWvB in XXV C 26
The MWvB is responsible for the illumination (11 column miniatures, one 2 column
miniature and 35 historiated initials), including the borders, in gatherings 3 (only the column
miniature of the Mercy Seat on f. 15r; border by the Master of the Feathery Clouds), 5, 7-12,
17, 18 (only the column miniature of the Presentation in the Temple on f. 145v), and 20-22,
including the two column miniature on f. 175r.
All of the illumination for the suffrages to the female saints, except for Saint
Catherine, is by the MWvB. He also is responsible for the historiated initials depicting the
standard infancy cycle which accompany the Hours of the Virgin, the most important text in
the manuscript. These have an engaging directness which is quite charming. In a restricted
space, the MWvB, presents a fairly detailed representation and there is emotional interaction
between the figures. In the Visitation (f. 66r) (fig. 14a), for example, Mary and Elizabeth
seem genuinely glad to see one another. There is, however, a certain dissonance in this
section which is partly due to the fact that the subjects of the full-page miniatures by the
Master of Gerard Brilis and the historiated initials on the opposite page do not match until the
88
Reproduced in Rothe 1968, pl. 84.
Marrow 2007, p. 188 (note 21).
90
http://scriptorium.columbia.edu/ (consulted January 2011), search under NYPL MA 039.
91
The text on f. 15r could be the beginning of the Hours of the Holy Spirit, but there is no description of the
contents of the ms as a whole.
89
17
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
end of the cycle (Vespers and Compline), and partly because of the contrast in style on either
side of the opening.92 The latter probably wouldn‟t have bothered the original owner.
The MWvB seems to be at his best when he depicts a narrative scene. His column
miniatures and historiated intials with the female saints in gathering 7 are rather mundane.
The depiction of Angels carrying souls to heaven on f. 136r (fig. 14b), however, shows that he
is capable of setting multiple figures in a credible landscape. In this case, the sweetness of the
expression on the face of the angel on the left is appropriate; it is as if he is trying to reassure
the souls who are being transported. The column miniature of the 10,000 martyrs (f. 165r) is
even more ambitious. He makes an effort to vary the poses of the martyrs who are impaled on
the branches of the tree and imbues the figures on the right with calmness as they await their
fate.
The real tour de force of the MWvB in XXV C 26 is the two column miniature of two
angels with the Arma Christi on f. 175r (fig. 15) which introduces the Passion narrative of St.
John. This is not so much for the execution, but the unusual manner in which the subject is
presented. Here the instruments of the passion are depicted as a coat of arms. Perhaps this is
a visual pun; in Dutch the Arma Christi are called wapenen van Christus and a coat of arms is
a wapen. 93 The Arma Christi are more commonly included as part of another scene, for
example, the Mass of St. Gregory, Christ as the Man of Sorrows, the Last Judgement or the
Crucifixion, or arranged on their own against a neutral background. The Crucifixion is the
subject of the full-page miniature on f. 174v, so the Arma Christi are nonetheless presented
within the context of a scene depicting the suffering of Christ. The border on all four sides is
also exceptional in the work of the MWvB in XXV C 26. He takes advantage of the
opportunity to include a man on horseback chasing a larger man at the bottom of the page and
a half-naked man astride a griffon in the upper right corner who is taking aim with a long
spear at a bird beneath him.
There is an earlier example from the Low Countries of a representation of the Arma
Chrisi as a coat of arms by the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle in the Book of Hours, c.
1415, New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 866, f.101v, which accompanies prayer to
Christ Crucified, a text that frequently occurs in manuscripts from Delft.94 This is a much
more dynamic depiction by a master of great artistic ability. Although there are similar
elements in XXV C 26, such as the helmet above a shield with angels on either side, the
composition does not seem to derive directly from this source. M. 866 has an added section
(f. 194-214), without illumination, that was composed in Flanders, c. 1450.95 Even if the
MWvB had no knowledge of the depiction by the Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle, it
would seem possible to say that this usual iconography had made its way from the Northern
Netherlands to the South by the middle of the 15th century.
In XXV C 26, the MWvB shows himself to be a competent collaborator who was
entrusted with important illumination: the column miniature of the Mercy Seat on f. 15r opens
the manuscript; the historiated initials depicting the infancy cycle are an integral part of the
Hours of the Virgin and the two column miniature on f. 175r, with its unusual depiction of the
Arma Chrisi, is the last illumination in the book.
92
Of course, since the miniatures have been inserted on single leaves, they could have been re-arranged at some
point. The order of the full-page miniatures accompanying the Hours of the Virgin will be discussed in more
detail below.
93
Also Passiewerktuigen or lijdenswerktuigen.
94
Defoer et al. 1990, p. 59-60 (cat. no. 120, fig. 15)
95
Morgan Library, Corsair, http://corsair.morganlibrary.org/msdescr/BBM0866.htm (consulted February 2011).
18
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Hand C – Master of Gerard Brilis
The hand of this artist was first recognized by Pächt, Jenni and Thoss in border
miniatures on ff. 39r and 72r in the Roman de Girart de Roussillon, Vienna ÖNB Cod.
2549.96 They also identified illumination by the same painter in Breviary of Grammont,
Maredsous. Thoss saw additional work by this artist in the border decoration of ÖNB Cod.
2549.97 Marie and Heinz Roosen-Rünge noticed a relationship between these two
manuscripts and the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch.98 It was Wolf, however, who established the
connection with the illumination by Hand B in the Stuttgart manuscript, and who attributed
work in three additional manuscripts to this master.99 For her study of the SachsenheimGebetbuch, Hand B was important because his work in the Roman de Girart de Roussillon
provided an indication of Lieven van Latham‟s relationship to the Roussillon workshop.100
Most recently, Marrow summarized all previous scholarship and added five additional works
to the oeuvre of this master. He named the artist after the scribe Gerard Brilis, with whom
this Master collaborated in two Carthusian Bibles now in Malmesbury and Brussels.101
Style
The Master of Gerard Brilis (MGB) takes great care in creating a well-defined space
for the figures in a scene. His mastery of perspective, his ability to depict various materials
and his eye for detail can be seen in the miniature of the Presentation in the Temple (f. 83v)
(fig. 30). The landscapes in scenes that take place outdoors, for example the Visitation (f.
72v) (fig. 25), create a convincing illusion of depth. This is achieved by placing the main
figures in the foreground with a road winding back into the middle distance where there is a
sometimes a bridge or small group of buildings. In the far distance there is often a town on a
hill painted in hazy, blue tones.
His figures are slender, almost weightless, and are relatively small in comparison with
the setting. The heads are small in relationship to the bodies, and the hands have long, thin
fingers. The faces of the all women, except for Elizabeth in f. 72v, have more or less the
same oval form. The cheeks sometimes are touched with pink, but there are no cheekbones.
The men‟s faces have stronger contours and, as in the case with the women, there is a
different facial type for young and old. Compare, for example the face of the young disciple
with those of the older men, including St. Peter, in f. 110v (fig. 42). There is limited
interaction between the figures; they occasionally glance one another, but there is no sense of
an emotional exchange. The women witnessing the Massacre of the Innocents (f. 87v) (fig.
33) react to the slaughter of their (or their neighbour‟s) children by clasping their hands and
slightly inclining their heads. The MGB is not always successful in his depiction of the
human form in different poses: King David is clearly kneeling on the ground (f. 97v) (fig. 38),
but the position of his knees is slightly ambiguous; in the Coronation of the Virgin (f. 54v)
(fig.1), Mary seems to be hovering instead of kneeling and the pose of the woman (Mary
Magdalene?) (f. 110v) is purely decorative and has no relationship with human anatomy.
His colours are clear and deep, but not harsh or bright. A distinctive light pink occurs
in a number of miniatures, most frequently used for the exterior of buildings, but also for
other details, such as the donkey‟s trough (f. 76v) (fig. 28), an interior wall (f. 87v) or the
cloth on the bench behind Mary and Jesus (f. 167v) (fig. 44).
96
Pächt, Jenni, Thoss 1983-1990, vol. 1, p. 53, 58 and fig. 56
Thoss 1989, p. 28-29, figs. 34-39 and plates 10, 19.
98
M. and H. Roosen-Rünge, 1981, vol. 2, p. 301.
99
Wolf 1996, p. 63-64, 315-316. See above, p.3, for more information.
100
Wolf 1996, p. 208.
101
Marrow 2007, p. 169-170.
97
19
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
A small detail, which appears consistently in the miniatures with a landscape as a
setting, is a tree whose trunk is twisted in an unusual manner: f. 72v, on the left, next to the
margin, and on the rocky hillock at right; f. 92v (fig. 36), to the right, just above the head of
the donkey (Joseph‟s staff also has a twist in it); f. 97v, in the middle distance, next to the
road; f. 110v, at the left above the shoulder of the young man in the second row and on the
right above the figure in red and f. 174v (fig. 46), to the left of Mary‟s head. During the
seminar in 2006, I half-jokingly suggested that Hand C should be called the Master of the
Twisted Tree-trunk (Meester van de Geknikte Boomstam). Marrow‟s name of convenience is
obviously preferable because it links the Master to a known person. Perhaps it is fanciful, but
it has occurred to me that it might be possible that “boom” or “stam” could have been part of
the artist‟s name, or the name of his birthplace.
It is evident that the style of the MGB evolves during the course of his career, and that
the illumination in the earlier works is not as refined as it is in XXV C 26. It has already been
noted, for example, that in the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (c. 1455-1460) there are certain
similarities with the style of the Master of the Feathery Clouds. The variation in style is also
apparent in a comparison of the Visitation (f. 65v) (fig. 16) in the Book of Hours in the
Hermitage (c. 1460-1465) and the depiction of the same subject in XXV C 26 (f. 72v)
(fig.25). Although the basic composition is the same, the figures in the latter are more
elongated and slender. In the former, St. Elizabeth almost looks like a buxom farmer‟s wife
and the difference in age between the two women is not as pronounced. The palette in XXV
C 26 is more subdued and the prominent, rather old-fashioned halos have disappeared.
Similar differences can be seen in the Flight into Egypt (Hermitage, f. 104v and XXV C 26. f.
92v), especially in the depiction of the donkey. The long, graceful ears and shaggy coat of the
animal in the latter (also to been seen in the Nativity, f. 76v) (fig. 28) make the creature in the
Hermitage Hours look like a horse pretending to be a donkey. The style in the Tenschert
Hours (c. 1465-1475) comes closest to that in XXV C 26.
Works/collaboration
The MGB makes a modest debut in a manuscript for an important patron, the Roman
de Girart de Roussillon, commissioned by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (Vienna,
ÖNB, Cod. 2549) and illuminated in Brussels after1448.102 Although the MGB only
contributed miniatures in the borders of two pages (ff. 39r and 72r) and some additional
border decoration, it must have been a considerable honour to collaborate on this project with
the Girart Master, who has been identified with Dreux Jehan, a Parisian artist who entered the
service of Philip the Good in 1448.103 This is the only secular work with illumination by the
MGB.
After this the MGB worked on a series of large-scale ecclesiastical works, beginning
1449-1450 with the Breviary of the Abbey of St. Adrian, Grammont/ Geraardsbergen
(Abbaye de Maredsous, Ms. Fº 3/1-4) where he collaborated with at least five artists,
including illuminators related to the Masters of Guillebert de Mets and the Privileges of Ghent
and Flanders.104 The MGB made a significant contribution, both in amount of illumination
and the importance of the subjects depicted, for example, the page devoted to the miracle of
the shrine of St. Adrian (Fº 3/4, f. 1r) (fig. 17) and the miniature depicting the abbot of the
monastery praying before St. Adrian (Fº 3/4, f. 95v). There are numerous roundels in the
margins which depict either scenes relating to the subject of the historiated initial or Old
Testament scenes which were seen as prefigurations of New Testament subjects. Similar
102
Marrow 2007, p. 170. Wolf 1996, p. 316.
Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 212. Smeyers 1998, p. 414, maintains that the illumination in the
Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch which has been connected to Lieven van Lathem is closer to the work of Dreux Jehan.
104
Marrow 2007, p. 171.
103
20
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
roundels are used extensively in the Missal in Mondavi and the Book of Hours in St.
Petersburg. The two roundels by the MGB in the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch are on ff. 81r and
104r.105 The roundel on f. 81r (opposite a full-page miniature of the Crucifixion) depicts
Eleazer killing an elephant in battle in an attempt to save his people (I Maccabees 6:43-47), a
scene which prefigures the sacrifice of Christ. The same scene occurs in the roundel on f. 19r
in the Book of Hours in the Hermitage, again opposite a full-page miniature of the
Crucifixion, but here the elephant is brown instead of grey. It is obvious that the MGB never
saw an elephant (or an accurate depiction of one).
In the so-called Missal of Pius V, c. 1450 (Mondovi, Curia Vescovile, no signature)
the MGB worked with two other artists. The artist who contributed, among other things, the
impressive full-page miniature of the Crucifixion (f. 151v) accompanying the Canon of the
Mass is thought to be Jean Tavenier.106 The other is Antonis uten Broec, an Utrecht artist
who worked in both the Northern and Southern Netherlands.107 The MGB collaborated with
Antonis uten Broec again in the Carthusian Bible of Herne, 1457 (Malmesbury Abbey
Church, no signature). The script of this Bible was written by Gerard Brilis who was also the
scribe of the Carthusian Bible from Scheut, 1460 (Brussels, KBR, Ms. 201-203, 167) where
the MGB also was active.108 The MGB thus works twice with both Antonis uten Broec and
Gerard Brilis: in the Carthusian Bible of Herne where all three participated, with Antonis uten
Broec in the Missal in Mondovi and with Gerard Brilis in the Carthusian Bible from Scheut.
The remainder of the MGB‟s oeuvre is found in five works intended for private
devotion:
 Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek., Cod.brev.162), c. 1455-1460.
The main artist is Lievan van Latham/Sachsenheim Master (Wolf‟s Hand A). The
MGB (Wolf‟s Hand B) is the second most important artist. The composition of the
full-page miniatures of the Crucifixion on f. 80r (fig. 47) and the Annunciation on f.
87v (fig. 23) by Hand C are related to the miniatures of the same subjects in XXV C
26 (ff. 174v and 65v, respectively) (figs. 46 and 22). No other work from his hand has
been identified.109
 Book of Hours (St. Petersburg, Hermitage, Graphic Arts Department, Ms. 6), c.14601465. This is one of the few manuscripts where the MGB supplies all the
illumination.110
 Book of Hours (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. S.n. 12908), 1466. This contains two full-page
miniatures and two historiated initials by the MGB (ff. 31v/32r and 44v/45r).111
Marrow originally thought that these came from a dismembered Book of Hours and
were inserted into another Book of Hours, possibly produced in the Northern
Netherlands.112 However, after examining the manuscript, he realized that they were
integral to the part of the manuscript in which they appear.113 In addition to the
standard texts, the last part of the manuscript (from f. 239r) contains a series of Hours
105
There are eight roundels depicting scenes of the Passion of Christ in the border of the miniature of Christ
being nailed to the Cross (f. 26r), but these are not by the MGB.
106
Marrow 2007, p. 172
107
For Antonis uten Broec, see Van der Hoek 2004
108
Marrow 2007, p. 176-177.
109
Wolf 1996, p. 293-298 (cat. no. 15), Marrow 2007, p. 173-175.
110
Marrow 2007, p. 177-179, Zimina and Anisimova 2005, p. 194-198 (cat. no. 42) and Dolgodrova 1983. I am
very indebted and extremely grateful to James Marrow for sharing his translations of the Russian texts and for
the high quality images of the illumination in the Hermitage Book of Hours.
111
Pächt, Jenni, Thoss 1983, vol. 1, p. 81-82, vol. 2, figs. 132, 133, as Flemish, after 1466.
112
Marrow 2007, p. 179.
113
James Marrow, e-mail 17 October 2008. Mr. Marrow was very generous to share his new information with
me.
21
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
devoted to six saints: John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Gertrude, Jerome, Barbara
and Catherine. As far as I could judge from the reproductions in Pächt and Jenni,
Hands B and D appear to be artists from the Northern Netherlands; Hand C reminds
me a bit of the Master of Willem van Bossuyt.114 The latter is an intriguing
possibility, but it would be unwise to make an attribution solely on the basis of a rather
poor reproduction.
 Book of Hours (Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle, Switzerland), c. 1465-1475. All the
illumination and border decoration is by the MGB. The script is thought to come from
the hand of Nicolas Spierinc.115 The graceful, elaborate cadelles and intricately
decorated initials are similar to those found in the Prayerbook of Charles the Bold
(Los Angeles, Getty Museum, Ms. 37) and the Hours of Mary of Burgundy (Vienna,
ÖNB, Cod. 1857).116 The composition of eight of the full-page miniatures is very
closely related to miniatures depicting the same subjects in XXV C 26. The
compositions are somewhat simplified, perhaps due to the smaller size of the pages
(190 x 140 mm vs. 139 x 98 mm). These will be discussed in greater detail below.
 Book of Hours (Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26), c. 1475.
There are several iconographical oddities in the work of the MGB. A number of these
occur in the Hermitage Hours. Marrow mentions the Virgin and Child with Angels (f. 24v)
where the infant Jesus plays a psalterium or zither held by the angel on the right and the
Raising of Lazarus (f. 129v) which takes place in a walled, formal garden.117 Also unusual is
the Nativity (f. 76v) which does not take place in a stable, but in the bedroom of a house
where Mary is lying in a proper bed with two women attending her. This is more typical of
depictions of the Birth of the Virgin or the Birth of John the Baptist. The Adoration of the
Magi (f. 86v) takes place in the same setting. In the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, the historiated
initial accompanying the suffrage to Saint Christopher (f. 158r) (fig. 18) is not the standard
depiction of the saint carrying the Christ Child across a river, but shows Christopher praying
by a wayside cross with the devil running away in fear. The miniature in the Tenschert Hours
(f. 139v) (fig. 41) accompanying the Seven Penitential Psalms is also unusual. Instead of
showing David in Penitence, it is a depiction of Michal helping David escape from Saul‟s
servants (I Samuel 19:11-12).118 Marrow does not mention, however, that the depiction could
derive from the Biblia Pauperum which shows the Flight into Egypt and its types (sig. e),
with Jacob fleeing Esau on the left and David escaping from Saul on the right.119 This is one
possible example of the MGB using woodcuts as a source of inspiration for his illumination.
It might be worthwhile comparing the roundels with typological scenes in the Breviary from
Grammont, the Missal in Mondavi and the Hermitage Hours with woodcuts from the Biblia
Pauperum and the Speculum Humanae Salvationis to see if other borrowings occur.
In some ways, the career of the MGB is similar to that of the Master of the Feathery
Clouds. Both work with established artists on important commissions, and contribute to large
scale ecclesiastical works. The MGB almost always works with other artists, the exceptions
being the Carthusian Bible from Scheut which has a modest programme of illumination120 and
the Hermitage and Tenschert Hours. The Master of the Feathery Clouds works on his own in
114
Pächt and Jenni 1975, vol 1, p. 87-88, vol. 2, fig. 262 (f. 71v, Hand B), fig.265 (f. 186 v, Hand D) and fig.
270 (f. 163r, Hand C).
115
Marrow 2007 p. 180-181, Christie‟s auction catalogue, 2 June 2004, p. 18-21 (lot 14).
116
Christie‟s auction catalogue, 2 June 2004, p. 20. See also the decorated initial beginning the Stabat Mater (f.
140r) in the Trivulzio Hours (The Hague, KB, Ms. SMC 1).
117
Marrow 2007, p. 178.
118
Marrow 2007, p. 180. The Biblical source is given in Marrow as I Kings 19:11-12.
119
Reproduced in Henry 1983, plate XVIIIc.
120
Four historiated intials in vols. 1 (Ms. 201, ff. 1r and 1v) and 2 (Ms. 201, both on f. 1r). See Marrow 2007, p.
189, note 33.
22
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
two extensively illuminated large scale works, a History Bible, c. 1467, The Hague,
Koninklijke Biblotheek, 78 D 39 and the Passyonael van den Heyligen, van den helen jaer
(London Passional), c. 1465-1470, British Library, Add. 18162, and also a number of Books
of Hours. Although XXV C 26 is the only work where these two artists collaborate, each of
them worked on a Book of Hours where Nicolas Spierinc was the scribe, the Tenschert Hours
(MGB) and Madrid, Madrid, BN, Ms. Vitr. 24-10 (Master of the Feathery Clouds).121
The MGB in XXV C 26
The MGB is responsible for the 11 full-page miniatures on ff. 54v, 65v, 72v, 76v, 83v,
87v, 92v, 97v, 110v, 167v and 174v. The borders accompanying the miniatures are by Hand
D. One of the unusual aspects of XXV C 26 is order of the subjects of the miniatures that
accompany the Hours of the Virgin. The following table compares the standard cycle and the
cycle of the full-page miniatures and historiatied initials in XXV C 26.122 I will describe each
of the miniatures in XXV C 26 briefly and relate them to other depictions of the subjects by
the MGB (especially those in the Tenschert Hours), noting where relevant the variation from
the standard cycle, and, where appropriate, to similar works by other artists
Hour
Matins
Lauds
Prime
Terce
Sext
None
Vespers
Standard subject
Annunciation
Visitation
Nativity
Annunciation to the
Shepherds
Adoration of the Magi
Presentation in the Temple
Flight into Egypt (or
Subject XXV C 26 (fpm)
Coronation of the Virgin
Annunciation
Visitation
Nativity/Annunciation to the
Shepherds
No full-page miniature
Presentation in the Temple
Massacre of the Innocents
Subject XXV C 26 (hi)
Annunciation
Visitation
Nativity
Annunciation to the Shepherds
Flight into Egypt
Flight into Egypt
Circumcision
Adoration of the Magi
Massacre of the Innocents
Massacre of the Innocents)
Compline Coronation of the Virgin
(or Flight into Egypt, Massacre
of the Innocents, Assumption of
the Virgin, Death of the Virgin)
Coronation of the Virgin / Christ blessing the Virgin, f. 54v (Hours of the Virgin, Matins)
(fig. 1). Christ seated on the right side of an elaborate Gothic throne holds an orb on his lap
with his left hand and raises his right hand in blessing. He wears a crown and is dressed in a
white robe and red mantle. The crowned Virgin at left wears a blue mantle highlighted with
gold along the edge123 and kneels to accept the blessing with crossed hands. The scene is
surrounded by an aureole filled with angels painted in blue monochrome (camaïeu bleu),
highlighted with white and gold. The outer edge of the aureole is orange/pink with rays
emanating from it.
Marrow has noted the possible influence of a miniature of the same subject by Simon
Marmion in the Berlaymont Hours, c.1470-1475 (San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1173,
f. 61r) (fig.2), especially the throne with its elaborate openwork tracery.124 The composition
of the miniature in the Tenschert Hours (f. 43v) (fig. 19) is almost identical to that in XXV C
26, although the tracery in the throne is not as fine or intricate. An earlier example (1466 or
121
For the manuscript in Madrid and Spierinc, see De Schryver 2008, p. 76-77.
Standard cycle of subjects from Wieck 2001, p. 60.
123
Mary is consistently depicted in the same garment, so I will not specify this in every description.
124
Marrow 2007, p. 175. See Kren and McKendrick 2003, p. 108-110 (cat. no. 12) for more information about
the Berlaymont Hours.
122
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
before)125 from the hand of the MGB is found in a large historiated initial in the Book of
Hours in Vienna (ÖNB, Cod. S.n. 12908), f. 45r (fig. 20). In this depiction, a blue sky with
clouds is visible through the tracery of the throne, which is not the case in XXV C 26 or the
Tenschert Hours. There is also no aureole, but two angels in white standing on either side of
the throne; angels painted in blue tones are found in three of the spandrels of the field
reserved for the initial.
The subject of the illumination that usually accompanies Matins in the Hours of the
Virgin is the Annunciation. This is the case with the historiated initial in XXV C 26, but the
full-page miniature depicts the Coronation of the Virgin. At the time of the Christie‟s auction
in 2004, the miniature depicting this subject in the Tenschert Hours was placed before the
Hours of the Holy Spirit (beginning f. 36r), but has since been inserted before the Mass of the
Virgin (f. 43v).126 The Coronation of the Virgin in the Berlaymont Hours comes before
Compline in the Hours of the Virgin. Since the full-page miniatures in XXV C 26 are on
single leaves, it is certainly possible that they are not in their original order. There is no Mass
of the Virgin in XXV C 26, so the miniature could not have been placed before this text. If
the miniature of the Coronation of the Virgin was once placed before Compline, this would
mean that the miniatures depicting the Massacre of the Innocents and the Flight into Egypt,
now in the usual place before Vespers and Compline, respectively, would have been inserted
elsewhere, which would have resulted in a very strange sequence indeed.
It is perhaps significant that the depiction of the Coronation of the Virgin in the
Vienna Hours, which is in an historiated intial and thus an integral part of the text, appears at
the opening of the Hours of the Virgin (f. 45r) (fig. 20). The full-page miniature opposite (f.
44v) (fig. 21) depicts the Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine (left) and Barbara (right).
As Marrow notes, this subject does not normally introduce the Hours of the Virgin.127 As
mentioned above, the Hours of the Virgin in XXV C 26 are preceded by a lengthy section
devoted to the female saints (ff. 41v-53v), and that the codicological evidence suggests that
this is probably the original sequence. Within this section, there is an apparent hierarchy.
Saint Catherine is the most important, she has her own Hours and these are illuminated with a
column miniature and six historiated initials.128 Barbara also has her own Hours, but the
illumination is limited to a column miniature and one historiated initial. The suffrages to the
following six saints begin with a column miniature. The remaining three suffrages have only
an historiated initial. This section devoted to female piety could be regarded as an overture to
what follows immediately, the high point of the manuscript with its seven full-page
miniatures and eight historiated initials, the Hours of the Virgin. In this case, full-page
miniature depicting Mary as the Queen of Heaven (Regina Coeli) makes plain her paramount
status. The preceding section devoted to the female saints could be seen as an expansion of
the Virgo inter Virgines theme129 encountered in the Vienna Hours. On the basis of the
precedent in the Vienna Hours, it might be possible to conclude that the Coronation of the
Virgin is in its original place in XXV C 26.
125
Marrow 2007, p. 179-180.
Christie‟s auction catalogue, 2 June 2004, p. 18 (under lot 14); Leuchtendes Mittelalter 2008, p. 62. There are
a number of discrepancies in the description of the manuscript in these sources. For simplicity‟s sake, I will use
the folio numbers given in the second source when discussing the miniatures in the Tenschert Hours. In
November 2008, a CD with reproductions of the miniatures in the Tenschert Hours was kindly sent to me by Dr.
Ina Nettekoven of the Antiquariat Bibermühle, Ramsen. In the reproduction of the miniature of the Coronation
of the Virgin, the modern pencil foliation (not visible in the illustrations in the auction catalogue) would indicate
that the Mass of the Virgin begins on f. 43r.
127
Marrow 2007, p. 179.
128
Her special importance is also apparent in the calendar where her feast-day (25 November) is noted in red and
duplex.
129
For the development of the Virgo inter Virgines theme see Pumplin 2010. p. 316-321.
126
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Annunciation, f. 65v (Hours of the Virgin, Lauds) (fig. 22). The scene is framed by a grey
stone archway. Mary is reading at the right, sitting/kneeling in what could be a chapel before
a prie-dieu covered by a green cloth. She looks over her shoulder towards the left at Gabriel
who wears a white undergarment with a red robe, which is richly decorated along the front
opening. His wings are green on the outside, and yellow (top) and blue (bottom) on the
inside. He carries a slender sceptre/staff. The grey stone of the setting evokes the interior of
a church. Just behind the figures is a central column supporting the springing of a ribbed
vault. There is a brocade cloth of honour on a broad pier behind Mary and what appears to be
a lamp hangs under a small blue baldaquin above her head. An arcade, suggesting a cloister,
can be seen through an arch behind Gabriel. The yellowish tiled floor has a very subtle
pattern.
The composition is closely related to the Annunciation by Hand C in the SachsenheimGebetbuch, f. 87v (fig. 23). There are a number of variations, especially in the colours, but
the setting is basically the same.130 A significant difference is that in the Stuttgart ms.
includes banderol with Gabriel‟s Ave Maria greeting and a small dove of the Holy Ghost
which has golden rays behind it emanating from the cloister in the background at the left. A
notable absence in both XXV C 26 and Cod. brev. 162 is the traditional vase with lilies. As
Wolf notes, the depiction in the Stuttgart ms. has a stronger narrative character.131 The
miniature is opposite the Saturday Hours of the Virgin (f. 88r-93v).132 The historiated initial
on f. 88r depicting Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well and the border decoration are by the
MGB. Although f. 87r is blank, which could indicate that the miniature is on a single leaf
which had been inserted separately, it is possible that the MGB saw his collaborator‟s
depiction. Another possibility is that Hand C and the MGB used a common prototype. The
miniature of the Annunciation in the Hermitage Hours (f. 47v) also emphasizes the narrative
aspect and has two roundels with typological scenes in the border, one at left depicting God
appearing to Moses in the Burning Bush and the other at the bottom with Rebecca and Eliezer
at the Well. There is a slight resemblance of the figures of Gabriel and Mary to those in XXV
C26, but apart from that, the depiction of the scene, which takes place in a domestic interior,
is totally different.
The Annunciation in the Tenschert Hours (Matins), f. 53v (fig. 24), is directly related
to the depiction in XXV C 26. The perspective of the interior in the former, however, is more
convincing, and the pronounced green and yellow pattern of the tile floor is closer to the
depiction in the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch.
A Book of Hours, Use of Rome, Ghent, c. 1470-1480, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford
(Ms. Gough Liturg. 15)133 contains a miniature of the Annunciation (f. 23r) that is in some
respects reminiscent of the depiction in XXV C 26. The scene takes place in a church, the
angel Gabriel wears a white undergarment and red robe and there is a brocade cloth of honour
behind Mary. There are also elements in the border that seem to be connected to the MGB,
the figures in the Visitation embrace each other in a manner similar to the depiction of the
subject in the Hermitage Hours (f. 65v) (fig. 16), the two women are similar in age to one
another and the clothing of Elizabeth is also green and reddish orange. Another point of
reference in the border is the strawberry motif where the fruit is uplit like the strawberries in
the work of the MGB; these also appear in the borders on other pages (ff. 43v, 53r and 66v).
The fact that the composition of a second miniature in this manuscript (Nativity, f. 39v, see
130
See Wolf 1996, p. 76-79, for a detailed description of f. 87v in Cod. brev. 162.
Wolf 1997, p. 79.
132
Irtenkauf and Fiala 1962, p. 196.
133
Pächt and Alexander 1966, p. 26, pl. XXVII. De Schryver et al. 1975, vol. II, p.368 (cat. no. 601). Colour
reproductions are available via http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/s/3abfc8 (accessed May 2011).
131
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26 October 2011
below) is related to XXV C 26, could reinforce the indication that there is some sort of a
relationship between these Hours.134
Visitation, f. 72v (Hours of the Virgin, Prime) (fig. 25). Mary and Elizabeth greet one another
in the foreground of a deep landscape. Elizabeth is distinctly older than Mary and wears a red
robe and white wimple. The road winds back to a bridge with a gate house in the middle
ground which leads back to fortified castle or town. In the far background are some hazy
mountains. There are outcroppings of rock or hillocks on the right behind Elizabeth.
The miniature of the Visitation in the Tenschert Hours (f. 70v) (fig. 26) appears before
the beginning of Lauds. The composition is again virtually identical with the miniature in
XXV C 26. The only historiated initial in the manuscript is on the opposite page. It depicts
two women meeting in a landscape, with the older woman on the left, almost certainly a
typological scene.135 The miniature of the subject in the Hermitage Hours (f. 65v) (fig. 16)
has been discussed above in the context of the evolution of the style of the MGB. There is a
roundel in the border of f. 65v with a typological scene which has been identified as Ruth and
Naomi.136
The inspiration for change in the depiction of Elizabeth as a woman relatively close in
age to Mary to one notably older might be the miniature of the subject in the Prayer Book of
Philip the Good, c. 1460-1467 (Paris, BNF, Ms. n.a. fr.16428) f. 46r (fig. 27).137 The Girart
Master (Dreux Jehan?) and Lieven van Lathem are among the illuminators who worked on
this important devotional book.138 Even from a small black and white reproduction, it is
possible to see the close similarity of the posture, apparent age and costume of the figure in
the Prayer Book in Paris to the figure of Elizabeth in XXV C 26. As noted above, the MGB
collaborated with the Girart Master early in his career and with Lieven van Lathem in the
Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch.
Nativity/Annunciation to the Shepherds, f. 76v (Hours of the Virgin, Terce) (fig. 28). In the
main scene, Mary kneels in adoration before the tiny Christ Child who lies naked on the stone
pavement with rays of light emanating from his body. The ox and ass look out from a
dilapidated stall made of grey stone, which has a wooden veranda with a thatched roof
propped up by a tree branch. There are three steps leading downward in the lower right
corner.139 Joseph walks towards Mary and Jesus from the left wearing a blue cloak and red
turban highlighted with gold to show his special status. In the middle ground is a group of
buildings with a man standing in front of them. The road winds off to the left background
where the second scene, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, takes place. In the far distance is
a town.
The miniature of the Nativity/Annunciation to the Shepherds in the Tenschert Hours
(f. 88v) (fig. 29) appears before the beginning of Prime. Again, it contains all of the elements
which appear in XXV C 26, but the composition is more compressed. One small difference is
the position of the Christ Child. He does not lie flat on his back as he does in XXV C 26, but
is propped up against a wooden beam running along the front of the stable. The mantle of the
Virgin is also arranged in a slightly different manner, and she has a subtle halo. As noted
above, the Nativity in the Hermitage Hours (f. 76v) is a total departure some the standard
134
The resemblance to XXV C 26 has also been noted by Dogaer 1987, p. 133.
Marrow 2007, p. 180.
136
Dolgodrova 1983 (I am uncertain exactly which page because this is not indicated in the translation).
137
Reproduced De Schryver 2008, p. 173, fig. 66.
138
De Schryver 1975, vol. II, p. 365-366 (cat. no. 597), Wolf 1996, p. 275-279 (cat. no. 11). According to Wolf
the Girart Master is responsible for the illumination in gathering 8 (ff. 42-50).
139
Randall 1997, III, pt. 1, p. 351(under entry for W. 208), finds that this is a reference to the “cave of the
Nativity.”
135
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
depiction. Marrow finds that alignment of the figures of Joseph, Mary and Jesus in XXV C
26 may be analogous to the arrangement of these figures in two of Simon Marmion‟s
depictions of the Nativity.140
The miniature of the Nativity in Gough Liturg. Ms. 15 (f. 39v) has a number of
elements in common with the depiction in XXV C 26: Mary kneels in adoration before the
naked Christ Child who lies on a stone floor, there is an open space at lower right where the
steps are in XXV C 26, the ox and ass with a column between their heads look out from the
stable, a thatched veranda is held up by a tree branch and there is a group of buildings in the
middle distance with tiny figures in front of them. There are also significant differences:
Joseph is not present, unless his is the man with the woman at left who seem to be on ice
skates (!) and the Annunciation to the Shepherds takes place in the margin instead of in the
background of the miniature. De Schryver has noted the similarity of the composition of the
Crucifixion (f. 14r) in Gough Liturg. Ms. 15 to the miniature by Simon Marmion in the
Pontifical of the Church of Sens (Brussels, KBA, Ms. 9215, f. 129r). 141 A miniature of the
Crucifixion in the Prayer Book of Philip the Good (f. 84r) is also related to the miniature by
Simon Marmion in Brussels.142 It seems that the MGB also knew this source; the three
figures on the right in the Crucifixion in the Tenschert Hours (f. 21v) are almost a literal
quotation of the same group in the Sens Pontifical.143
There is no full-page miniature before Sext. The Adoration of the Magi is the usual subject
that accompanies this Hour. It is not possible to know whether the miniature in XXV C 26
has been removed, or simply always was absent. If it ever existed, it probably would have
looked much like the depiction of the subject in the Tenschert Hours (Sext, f. 103v) which
takes place in the same setting as the Nativity and depicts Mary sitting in front of a red cloth
with Joseph standing next to her as the Magi arrive from the left. The subject of the
historiated initial at the beginning of Sext in XXV C 26 (f. 80r) is the Circumcision. A fullpage miniature of this subject occurs before None in the Tenschert Hours (f. 111v). This has
several elements in common with the depiction of the scene in the Hermitage Hours (f. 91v),
but is not directly related.
Presentation in the Temple, f. 83v (Hours of the Virgin, None) (fig. 30). The miniature is
framed by a bluish grey stone arch which opens into a chapel with a ribbed vault. On the left
wall are three windows, two circular above and an elongated oval window below. On the
back wall is a round window with tri-partite tracery and a brocade cloth of honour. A carved
arch on the right opens onto a cloister. The tiles on the floor are very much like those in the
Annunciation. The scene is oriented around a carved wooden polygonal table/altar covered
with a white cloth on which the naked Christ Child sits. His mother Mary, her head covered
by a simple white headdress, stands next to him at left. She is accompanied by two women,
the younger of whom, dressed in a pink gown and a patterned blue turban, holds a basket with
the pair of sacrificial doves. The older woman could possibly represent the prophetess Anna.
A bearded man in a blue turban and mantle whose features resemble those of Joseph in the
Nativity stands behind the altar. Since Joseph is recorded as being present to hear Simeon‟s
prophecy, this could be Jesus‟ father. Next to him is an old man with a mitre, almost certainly
Simeon. A young, beardless man in red stands behind the priestly figure and a fourth man
with a red undergarment, green cloak and blue shoulder covering stands at the right.
140
Marrow 2007, p. 188, note 24.
De Schryver 1975, vol. II, p.368 (cat. no. 601).
142
De Schryver 1975, vol. II, p.366 (cat. no. 597); Wolf 1996, p. 279, reproduced fig. 17.
143
Leuchtendes Mittelalter 2008, p. 60.
141
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
The miniature of the subject in the Tenschert Hours (f. 95v) (fig. 31) is found before
Terce.144 There are a number of subtle differences: the archway framing the scene is the
distinctive pink the MGB is fond of; the altar seems to be shifted somewhat to the right; the
oblong window on the side wall is missing; the tiles have a more pronounced pattern; the
older woman is dressed in red instead of blue; Mary has a definite halo and the man in red
behind Simeon has a beard. Again, the depiction in the Hermitage Hours (f. 91v) is not at all
similar.
The setting is in some ways similar to that in the historiated initial depicting the
Circumcision by Lieven van Lathem in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod.
1857), f. 90r (fig. 32), with the two round windows in the wall at left, a round window with
tri-partite tracery and a ribbed vault.145 A full-page miniature of the Presentation, (Southern
Netherlands, c. 1460-1470) on a single leaf, once owned by Sir Alec Martin, London, is also
similar to the depiction in XXV C 26; the connection is reinforced by the border elements
which are related to those in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy and those in XXV C 26.146
Massacre of the Innocents, f. 87v (Hours of the Virgin, Vespers) (fig. 33). The scene takes
place in a ground floor room in Herod‟s palace. Herod sits at left on a carved Gothic throne
partially covered with an orange/pink cloth. He wears a full-length regal blue garment
trimmed with ermine and an extraordinary green hat, which turns up sharply on the side,
revealing a white lining (also ermine?). The hat has an extremely long, pointed brim, and
appears to incorporate a crown. He holds a sceptre in his right hand and gestures with his left
hand towards a group of three women at left who stand outside looking in through a window
at the back of the room, but he does not make eye contact with them. His attention is directed
at a soldier in the centre who kneels at his feet, holding up a tiny, naked baby who is still
alive. The soldier standing behind the kneeling figure runs a baby through with his sword,
next to him a third soldier looks on. Two of the women look towards Pilate, the third woman,
closest to the column in the centre, looks at the baby being killed. On the right is an opening
to the outside where more soldiers are gathered, their pikes and axes silhouetted against the
sky. A third tiny baby is impaled on one of these. The left wall is a slightly deeper colour
orange than the cloth on Pilate‟s throne and has two mullioned windows. The wooden ceiling
is supported by stone brackets/corbels.147 The tiled floor is lighter in the foreground than it is
in the background.
The setting brings to mind depictions of Christ before Pilate, where Jesus is brought in
to the Roman official who sits on a throne, for example the miniature by Lieven van Lathem
in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy, f. 74v (fig. 34). Here one of Pilate‟s attendants wears a
hat something like Herod‟s in XXV C 26, but the brim is not as long. Pilate himself wears a
similar hat with a very long pointed brim in an historiated initial in the Oraisons de Saint
Augustin (Roubaix, Médiathèque de Roubaix, ms. 7, f. 13v), Flemish, c. 1460.
There are a number of major and minor differences in the depiction of the subject in
the Tenschert Hours (Vespers), f. 118v (fig. 35). Herod wears a crown instead of an
extravagant hat and he looks directly at the three women, appearing to shake his sceptre at
them. Only one of them looks at him, perhaps the mother of the baby being held up in front of
him. The two other women look towards the soldiers on the left, whose number is not as large
as it is in XXV C 26. The minor differences include the absence of a cloth on the throne
144
Marrow 2007, p. 180, notes that the Annunciation to the Shepherds is the usual subject here and that at None,
where the Presentation usually occurs, there is a depiction of the Circumcision in the Tenschert Hours. He
suggests that these two miniatures may be “inserted out of sequence in interchanged positions.”
145
Reproduced Unterkricher 1993, n.p.; commentary p.46. The borders of f. 90r are by Maître Y.
146
Plotzek 1987, p. 196-197 (no. 62). Subject is incorrectly given as the Circumcision.
147
Thanks to my architect brother-in-law, Cornelis de Boer, for his help with the name of this element.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
which is has an arched back and is set back further into the room, no windows in the left wall
and a simpler pattern in the tiled floor. The depiction in the Hermitage Hours (f. 96v) is also
set in a throne room, but is much bloodier, with one the mother fighting her child‟s life while
another mourns over a little headless corpse. The setting is also quite different, with an
elevated throne of the right side instead of the left.
Flight into Egypt, f. 92v (Hours of the Virgin, Compline) (fig. 36). The landscape is similar
to that in the depiction of the Visitation except there is a hillock is the middle distance instead
of a bridge. Mary sits on the donkey which is facing right and is perhaps the same beast
which was present at the Nativity. Mary‟s head is covered with her mantle, and she holds the
infant Jesus in the crook of her right arm and holds on to the red reins with her left hand.
Joseph, walking ahead, has turned a corner and faces the other direction. He wears the same
clothing he did in the Nativity and carries a white bundle tied with a red cord to a stick over
his left shoulder.
The composition of the miniature in the Techschert Hours, f. 130v (Compline) (fig.
37) is virtually identical. The figures are larger, however, in relation to the landscape. The
landscape in the depiction in the Hermitage Hours (f. 104v) is built up in the same way, but
the arrangement of the figures is different with Mary holding the Christ Child with both arms
while Joseph leads the donkey.
David in penitence, f. 97v (Seven Penitential Psalms) (fig. 38). David is depicted as an old
man kneeling in front of a fortified gateway with towers on either side. The masonry is light
pink; the roofs are sky blue. David wears a red robe trimmed with ermine and a blue cape
edged with gold; the sleeves of his blue undergarment are highlighted with gold. He raises his
hands in supplication as he looks upwards toward the left where God appears in an aureole
holding an orb in his left hand, blessing David with his right hand. David‟s ermine-lined hat
and an open book are on the ground in front of him; his harp is propped up against a low wall.
There is an enclosed garden to the left with a fountain featuring a small, urinating boy. A
road on the left winds off into the countryside.
It is interesting to see how use of the composition evolves. The first version by the
MGB appears in an historiated initial in the Grammont Breviary, 1449-1450 (Abbaye de
Maredsous, Ms. Fº 3/3, f. 25r) (fig. 39).148 The setting is slightly different, a stream runs under
the entrance to the building complex and there is no garden at left, but the colour scheme is
the same. David appears older and more portly in XXV C 26, his nose is also less prominent
and he lacks the distinctive hairline that occurs in the earlier work of the MGB. The figure of
David in the Breviary is larger in relationship to the background; there is also no hat on the
ground. The initial appears at the beginning of the Beatus Vir. There are three roundels in the
border showing David with the head of Goliath, David putting enemies to flight and David
enthroned as King. Thus the context of the depiction is not overtly penitential, perhaps David
is thanking God for his victories.
The second version is the historiated initial in the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, c. 14551460, which appears at the beginning of the Seven Penitential Psalms, f. 104r (fig. 40). On f.
103v is a full-page miniature of the Last Judgement by the MGB. This depiction is closer to
that in XXV C 26, especially in the way David is represented, although the stream still runs
under the entrance to the building and there is no garden on the left. A roundel with David
with the head of Goliath is in the lower border. Even with this triumphant scene, the context
is now definitely penitential.
148
Reproduction of the initial in Marrow 2007, p. 168, fig.1.
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26 October 2011
Although the setting in the full-page miniature in the Tenschert Hours accompanying
the Seven Penitential Psalms, f. 139v (fig. 41), is reminiscent of these other examples, it
shows an entirely different scene, Michal helping David escape from Saul‟s servants. In the
Vienna Hours, an historiated initial of David in Prayer appears at the beginning of the Seven
Penitential Psalms, f. 32r. David is depicted kneeling before an altar at left in a chapel with
three figures at the right, apparently commenting on the scene.
When the composition is used for a full-page miniature in XXV C 26, the MBG uses
the opportunity to add a walled garden with a prominent fountain. A Manneken-Pis fountain
figure appears three times in the Hermitage Hours: in a roundel depicting Rachel and Eliezer
at the well in the border of the Annunciation (f. 47v); on its own in a roundel opposite the
Nativity (f. 77r) as the main subject149 and in the back of the garden in the full-page miniature
of the Raising of Lazarus (f. 129v). Perhaps it is just coincidence, but a fountain with a
urinating boy was installed in Geraardsbergen (Grammont) in 1459.150 It is perhaps
noteworthy that the first version of David in Prayer/Penitence appears in a Breviary made for
the Benedictine abbey of St. Adrian located in that place. In any event, it is at least possible
that the MGB knew of this fountain.
The Raising of Lazarus, f. 110v (Office of the Dead) (fig. 42). Christ and a group of seven
apostles, Peter to the right of him and a young disciple (perhaps John) in the back row, stand
behind a long bluish grey open sarcophagus with its lid resting on the front end. To the right
of this, a young woman with long, blond hair kneels opposite them, next to the sarcophagus.
She is dressed in an elegant red gown trimmed with ermine and wears a black headdress with
a gold pattern and an open back, and probably represents Lazarus‟ sister, Mary, who was
identified with Mary Magdalene in the Middle Ages.151 Lazarus, naked except for his shroud,
kneels in the sarcophagus with his hands raised towards Jesus and his followers. At the left, a
group of three men in rich clothing, probably meant to represent Jews, witness the scene. A
road leads off into a deep landscape with buildings in the middle and far distance. A flock of
miniscule birds fly across the sky.
The scene in the Tenschert Hours (Office of the Dead), f. 165v (fig. 43) is a simplified
version of the depiction in XXV C 26. There are only two disciples with Jesus and two
witnesses at the far end of the sarcophagus. The landscape is not nearly as deep and the
figures are once more larger in relation to the setting. The costume of the female figure is
nearly the same except there is no ermine on her gown and her headdress is red. In the
Hermitage Hours, f. 129v, the scene takes place in an enclosed garden. Christ is alone with
the sisters of Lazarus, the four Jewish witnesses peer over the back wall of the garden, to the
left of the fountain. The roundels show the Burial of Lazarus in the left border and Mary
anointing Christ‟s feet below.
Madonna of Humility/Maria lactans, f. 167v (Salve Regina) (fig. 44). Mary sits on a tiled floor
offering her breast to the Christ Child who looks up at her. Her head is covered by a simple
white headdress. Golden rays surround the heads of both figures. In the lower right corner is
a small wooden table covered by an orange/pink cloth with an open book. Behind Mary is a
bench covered by a cloth that is the same colour as that in the foreground with a green bolster
embroidered with gold. A plank is set on the on ends of the bench, and is just slightly higher
than Mary‟s head. Behind the bench is a wooden panel flanked by stone pillars and
149
According to Dolgodrova 1983, the source of the water of life.
For the history of the Manneken-Pis in Geraardsbergen see http://oudste-manneken-pis.be/geschiedenis.html
(accessed 5 May 2011).
151
See E.A. de Boer, The Gospel of Mary. London: T&T Clark, 2005, p. 1-4, for the “composite Saint Mary
Magdalene” in the Middle Ages.
150
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P.L. Pumplin
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surmounted by stone overhang. The left wall is grey. On the right wall is a window with
open inner shutters through which a landscape is visible.
The composition is almost identical to a miniature (f. 27v) in a Flemish Book of
Hours, c. 1470, in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (W. 208) (fig. 45), which accompanies
the Mass of the Virgin.152 There are, however, a number of differences: a doorway on the left
which opens into a bedroom; the overhang above the wooden panel is domed; Mary‟s head is
covered by her mantle and is higher than the plank resting across the back of the bench. The
Christie‟s auction catalogue relates the manuscript in Baltimore to the Tenschert Hours, but
this subject does not occur there, and, as far as I could judge from the description in Randall,
the composition of the other miniatures is not closely related to the depictions in XXV C 26 or
the Tenschert Hours. 153 There is no depiction of this subject in the other works for private
devotion with illumination by the MGB.
Crucifixion, f. 174v (Passion according to John) (fig. 46). Christ hangs from a cross with the
superscription in a separate frame above. He has no halo, but three groups of red rays around
his head. Blood drips from his arms and flows down from the wounds in his side and feet to
form a rivulet which streams onto the ground. Mary, her mantel covering her head, clasps her
hands together and looks upwards towards her son. John at right in his customary red robe
turns his head away from the cross. A road leads back to a nearby town (Jerusalem?). There
is a star in the centre of the sky above the cross and golden rays shine down on either side
above the cross piece. There is a skull and some bones on the dry earth in the foreground.
The composition of the miniature in XXV C 26 is closer to the miniature by Hand C in
the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, f. 80r (fig. 47), which accompanies the Friday Hours of the
Cross, than it is to the depictions by the MGB in the Vienna (f. 31v) (fig. 48), Hermitage (f.
18v) and Tenschert Hours (f. 21v). In both the Stuttgart manuscript and XXV C 26, the scene
is more contemplative. It is the only full-page miniature in the latter where the figures are so
large in relation to the setting, as if the MGB is inviting the viewer to come close and also
witness the suffering of Christ. The depictions in the other Hours are more narrative, with the
mourners grouped on the left side, balanced by the Roman soldiers and other witnesses on the
right.
The other miniatures by the MGB do have some elements in common with the
depiction in XXV C 26: the cross with the superscription in a separate frame; blood dripping
from the arms of Christ and the rivulet of blood flowing down the cross onto the ground and
the central star and rays above the cross (Hermitage; Vienna and Tenschert rays only). The
backgrounds are varied, but all show a city, most likely a reference to Jerusalem. Both the
Hermitage and Vienna Hours include figures on horseback on the right.
This rather lengthy series of comparisons shows that, as was common practice at the time, the
MGB reuses compositions, but that he also modifies them. In some cases, such as a number
of the depictions in the Tenschert Hours and XXV C 26, this is a question of adapting the
composition to the space available. In other cases, however, there are more significant
differences, such as the interaction between Herod and the women in the Massacre of the
Innocents in the Tenschert Hours, and the dramatic difference in subject matter in the
miniature accompanying the Seven Penitential Psalms also in that manuscript. The miniatures
in the Hermitage Hours demonstrate that his work also contains some unusual iconography.
152
Randall 1997, pt. 1, p. 348-352 (cat. no. 270), pt. 2, pl. XXVId (colour, f. 27v), figs. 509 (f. 110v), 595
(binding).
153
Christie‟s, auction catalogue, 2 June 2004, p. 20 (under lot 14). I looked into ordering reproductions of the
twelve miniatures in W. 208, but the price (over $1000) was a bit too much for my budget.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
The MGB seems to have been aware of the artistic trends of his day and used the work of
established artists, such as the Girart Master/Dreux Jehan and Simon Marmion, as inspiration.
There are a number of visual links between the miniatures by the MGB in XXV C 26.
Some of these have to do with the narrative content: the figures of the Holy Family and the
donkey in the Nativity (f. 76v) are depicted in the same manner in the Flight into Egypt (f.
92v). Other links are more subtle: the cloth of honour in the Annunciation (f. 65v) appears
again in a slightly different form in the Presentation in the Temple (f. 83v); the pose of the
infant being held before Herod (f. 87v) recalls the Christ Child in the Nativity; the shawl worn
by David (f. 97v) is similar to that worn by the figure on the right in the Presentation (f. 83v);
the pattern of the tile floor in the Madonna of Humility (f. 167v) is the same as that in the
Massacre of the Innocents and the cloth on Herod‟s throne is the same colour as cloth on the
bench in the background of f. 167v and the exchange of glances between Mary and Jesus in f.
167v is poignantly echoed in Mary gazing at her dying son on the Cross (f. 174v). These
links provide a certain level of continuity within the manuscript.
The full-page miniatures by the MGB are, as it were, the icing on the cake in this
Book of Hours. They demonstrate the artistic range of the MGB: his ability to depict
convincingly rendered interiors and landscapes that are nearly as accomplished as those of
Lieven van Lathem and Simon Marmion, narrative scenes with numerous figures and intimate
images inviting contemplation. In my opinion, we see the MGB at the height of his powers in
XXV C 26.
Hand D – Maître Y of ÖNB, Cod. 1857?
Wolf found that Hand B of the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (Hand C/Master of Gerard
Brilis in XXV C 26) was identical to Maître Y, one of the border painters in the Hours of
Mary of Burgundy (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod.1857).154 She based her opinion on comments made
by Antoine De Schryver at a conference on medieval manuscript illumination in the Northern
Netherlands held in Utrecht in 1989. During the seminar in 2006, I found it difficult to
believe that the full-page miniatures and their borders were painted by the same artist. The
convincing movement of some of the figures in the borders, for example the men fighting
with lions on f. 72v and 87v, was especially hard to reconcile with Hand C‟s difficulty
depicting the human form except in fairly simple poses. Marrow was of the opinion that the
borders in XXV C 26 were not painted by the Master of Gerard Brilis, but by an artist
working in the style of Lieven van Lathem and did not see the hand of the Master of Gerard
Brilis in ÖNB, Cod.1857.155
Style
The borders by Hand D are painted on a plain ground, with graceful, varicoloured
acanthus, stylized flowers, birds, snails, insects and occasionally human figures or animals.
The colours are bright and clear and co-ordinate well with the miniatures. Dots of gold leaf,
outlined in black ink with squiggles radiating from them, fill the spaces between the various
elements. The borders are similar style to some of those accompanying miniatures by Lieven
van Lathem in the Prayer Book of Charles the Bold (Los Angeles, Getty Museum, Ms. 37)
and the Trivulzio Hours (The Hague, KB, Ms. SMC 1).156
154
Wolf 1996, p. 305. See Unterkircher and De Schryver 1969, v. 2, p. 54-55, for which artists executed which
borders.
155
Marrow 2007, p. 175, 185, note 2.
156
For a discussion of the development Van Lathem‟s borders and the influence of Northern Netherlandish
borders on them, see De Schryver 2008, p. 159-195.
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26 October 2011
Border-Miniature relation
The elements in the border, especially the birds, sometimes echo the composition in
the miniature. For example, the birds in the bottom borders of f. 54v and f. 65v face each
other and seem to interact in a manner which is similar to the figures in the scenes depicted,
the Coronation of the Virgin and the Annunciation, respectively. In the border accompanying
the Nativity (f. 76v), a brightly coloured bird dives down towards two ordinary birds. This
could be an allusion to the angel announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds in the
background of the miniature. A similar parallel can be seen in the Prayer Book of Charles the
Bold, f. 15v where St. Michael‟s battle with demons is echoed by a bird attacking a dragon.
In this case, the position of the bird and the colour of its wings are closely related to the figure
of the saint. In XXV C 26, the figure of the wild man embracing (fighting with?) the bear in
the border of f. 167v (Madonna of Humility/Maria lactans) reflects the figure of Mary
holding her child. 157 The monkey playing a zither in the border of f. 97v (David in penitence)
could be a wry illusion to David‟s musical activities.
There are a number of enigmatic figures in the borders, some of them of exceptionally
high quality, such as the men fighting with lions mentioned above (f. 72v, f. 87v), a man
attacking a giant snail (f. 92v),158 and a hybrid goat creature with a long curling tail, holding
something in its hand (f. 110v). It might be tempting to try to read some esoteric meaning
into these figures, but I think it is more likely that they are purely decorative. This conclusion
is supported by a comparison of the borders in the Prayer Book of Charles the Bold and the
Trivulzio Hours.159 In these two manuscripts there are a number of cases where the
miniatures are very similar and the borders are quite different. There are also cases where the
border motifs are similar, but accompany miniatures with entirely different subjects (see table
below). It would seem that, towards the end of the 15th century, there was no set combination
of miniature subjects and border themes.
Manuscript
Getty, Ms. 37, f.
10r
Subject miniature
Virgin & Child with music-making angels
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f. 110v
Virgin & Child with music-making angels
Getty, Ms. 37, f.
14r
Trinity
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f. 13v
Trinity
Getty, Ms. 37,
f.43r
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f. 59v
All Saints/Adoration of the Mystic Lamb
All Saints/Adoration of the Mystic Lamb
Border motifs
Dark brown/black decoration on
alternating gold/silver background
(resembles tooled leather); small
pale bird at left.
Ape feeding cat; Fool playing
stringed instrument w/dancing
animals on plain ground
Hybrid man (bottom)and man in
armour (right) fighting dragons on
gold ground
Hounds killing a stag (lower
right); man blowing a hunting
horn (left) on plain ground
Music-making angels and birds
on gold ground
Armed men on shaggy beasts
(left, bottom) confronting one
another on plain ground
157
The entry in the 1929 sales catalogue (Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, lot 41) states that these figures represent
“le combat entre Valentin et Ourson.”
158
The man‟s green hat recalls that of Herod in f. 87v.
159
Reproductions available via http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=1780 (Getty, Ms.
37) and http://www.kb.nl/bladerboek/trivulzio/index.html (SMC 1) (accessed October 2011).
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Manuscript
Getty, Ms. 37, f.
21r
Subject miniature
Martyrdom of St. Andrew
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f.52v
Celebration of the Mass
Getty, Ms. 37,
f.34v
St. Martin and the Beggar
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f.159v
St. Luke painting the Virgin
Getty, Ms. 37, f.
41v
St. Eutropius healing the lame
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f. 44v
Pentecost
Getty, Ms. 37, f.
48r
KB, Ms. SMC 1,
f. 76v
Martyrdom of St. Catherine
Celebration of the Mass
Border motifs
Pond with frog and heron; archer
aiming at flying bird on plain
ground
Pond with frog and heron; archer
aiming at flying bird on plain
ground
Tournament between men riding
rams (bottom); man with bagpipes
(left) on plain ground
Tournament between men riding
rams (bottom); man with bagpipes
(left) on plain ground
Hybrid women playing musical
instruments (bottom) on plain
ground
Hybrid women playing musical
instruments (bottom) on plain
ground
Men fighting with apes on plain
ground
Men fighting with apes on plain
ground
Motifs/Relationship with other mss.
There are a number of elements in the borders accompanying the full-page miniatures
in XXV C 26 which are related in various degrees to those in manuscripts with illumination
by Lieven van Lathem, Simon Marmion and others.160
Coronation of the Virgin / Christ blessing the Virgin, f. 54v
Lion with animal (pig/boar?) in its jaws at upper right similar to lion attacking bird in
the bottom margin of ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 105r (fig. 49). Birds facing each other at
bottom similar to birds in rights margin of ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 105r.
Annunciation, f. 65v
Vase with an extending support for flowers at lower left is comparable to that in the
lower right corner of ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 112r (fig. 50). Rooster at upper right is
virtually the mirror image of the rooster facing left in the right margin of ÖNB, Cod.
1857, f. 105r. Compare also the form of the acanthus at left with that in ÖNB, Cod.
1857, f. 105r.
Presentation in the Temple, f. 83v
The bird and the dragon in the bottom margin relates to the bird and dragon lower
margin in ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 18r; Getty, Ms. 37, f. 15v, lower left corner, f. 31v,
inner margin and the dragon at the bottom of KB, SMC 1, f. 14r. The snail near the
lower left corner is practically identical with the snail next to the vase in ÖNB, Cod.
1857, f. 112r.
160
I have gone through the relevant reproductions a number of times, but cannot claim that this list is exhaustive.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Massacre of the Innocents, f. 87v
The scene of the dog lapping water from a pond with a pair of swimming ducks is
reminiscent of the depictions of a pond with a frog and heron in Getty, Ms. 37, f. 21r
and KB, SMC 1, f. 52v. The heron in the right margin is similar to the heron in the
right margin of KB, SMC 1, f. 52v.
David in penitence, f. 97v
The motif of a monkey playing a zither is also found in ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 63r and in
KB, SMC 1, f. 157v.
Madonna of Humility/Maria lactans, f. 167v
The peacock “perching” on the miniature in the center of the top margin is practically
identical to the peacock in the upper left corner of ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 105r.
The Raising of Lazarus, f. 112v
The arrangement of the butterflies, acanthus and flowers in the left margin is closely
related to the same configuration in ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 112r.
Crucifixion, f. 174v
The man/lion hybrid figure playing a viol at left is similar to the figure by Lieven van
Lathem in the left margin of MMW 10 F 50, f. 140v. The large winged insect at right
recalls the huge grasshopper in the left margin of KB, SMC 1, f. 139v.
It is interesting to see how these elements are used interchangeably and in combination
with various subjects in the full-page miniatures or historiated initials. This reinforces the
conclusion that the relationship between the miniature subjects and border motifs was not
standardized.
Maître Y of ÖNB, Cod. 1857
Some of the motifs found in XXV C 26, such as a bird confronting a dragon and the
musical monkey, are probably examples of themes popular at the time, and show that Hand D
was up to date with the latest fashion in drôleries. However, in all of the cases where there is
a very close relationship, the examples come from ff. 105r and 112r of ÖNB, Cod. 1857, the
borders of which have been ascribed to Maître Y.161 In addition, it is not only the motifs
which are similar, but also the execution. Even the form of the acanthus and the gold dots
with squiggles between the various elements are almost identical.
While it seems possible that Maître Y could have been active in the borders of XXV C
26, it is more difficult to imagine that he was responsible for the high-quality figures in the
borders mentioned above. The hybrid figure playing the viol (f. 174v), for example, is so
finely modelled and the face is so expressive that it would seem to me that it was done by
another illuminator. Perhaps Maître Y left room in the border for another, more accomplished
artist to paint these special figures, or it could be that the figures were painted first and Maître
Y filled in the space around them.162
The borders accompanying the full-page miniatures could well be by an artist who contributed
to Hours of Mary of Burgundy, one of the most admired Flemish Books of Hours from last
quarter of the 15th century. They also compare favourably to the borders in two other luxury
manuscripts, Prayer Book of Charles the Bold and the Trivulzio Hours. These three
manuscripts contain illumination by some of the most notable painters of the time, Lieven van
Lathem, Simon Marmion and the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy and their script was
executed by Nicolas Spierinc, a favourite scribe of the Burgundian court. The borders in
161
Unterkircher and De Schryver 1969, v. 2, p. 54-55. The historiated initials on ff. 105r and 112r are by Lieven
van Lathem (Massacre of the Innocents and Flight into Egypt, respectively).
162
An example of spaces being reserved for figures can be seen in Morgan, Ms. M .358.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
XXV C 26 demonstrate the connection of the Amsterdam Hours to the crème de la crème of
Flemish manuscript production.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Part 2 – The Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit in XXV C 26
and the new iconography of the Virtues
The new iconography of the Virtues in the Northern Netherlands
The earliest Netherlandish example of the new iconography of the Virtues appears in
the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit in the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours, c. 1460, Brussels,
KB, Ms. II 7619.163 The manuscript was commissioned by Jan van Amerongen who was
Sheriff of Utrecht 1468-1470; it was later inherited by his wife‟s cousin, Maria van
Vronensteyn.164 It is considered one of the finest Books of Hours produced in the Northern
Netherlands in the second half of the 15th century and contains illumination by four artists,
Delaissé‟s Masters A and B, the Master of Evert Zoudenbalch and the Master of the Feathery
Clouds (MFC).165 The illumination is inspired in part by Utrecht panel and wall painting and
woodcuts illustrating the Biblia pauperum.166 The text is in Dutch (translation by Geert
Grote). The Short Hours of the Holy Spirit (beginning on f. 74r) are preceded by the Hours of
the Virgin and followed by the Hours of Eternal Wisdom.167 There is a full-page miniature of
Pentecost by the Zoudenbalch Master on f. 73v. The illumination integral to the text in this
section is by the MFC, including the border decoration.
The MFC‟s borrowings from the Biblia pauperum are well-documented.168 In the case
of the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit, he uses a typological subject associated with Pentecost
for the large historiated initial (9 lines) at the beginning of the text, the Sacrifice of Elijah
consumed by Flame (1 Kings 18:20-39) (f. 74r) (fig. 51), but the composition in this case is
not closely related to the woodcut.169 The first Virtue, Faith, appears in the right margin of f.
74r, accompanied by a courtly hunting scene in the bottom margin. The remaining six Virtues
are depicted in four-line historiated initials at the beginning of the major text divisions. They
are identified by Dutch inscriptions on banderols.170 Throughout the text there are two-line
historiated intials with the busts of male figures.
It is not so odd to depict the Virtues in the context of the Hours of the Holy Spirit.
The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (New York, Morgan Library, M. 945 and M. 917), c. 1440,
regarded as “by far the most splendid and sophisticated book produced in the Northern
Netherlands in the fifteenth century,” contains a series of miniatures in the Tuesday Hours of
the Holy Spirit which illustrate the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding,
Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord. 171 The gifts of the Holy Spirit
were thought to be closely connected to the Virtues.172 What is unusual in the
Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours are the strange and numerous attributes with which each
Virtue is arrayed.173
163
Voelkle 1989, p. 188.
Defoer et at. 1990, p. 203-206 (cat. no. 62).
165
Delaissé 1949.
166
Smeyers 1975.
167
Deschamps and Mulder 2002, p. 30.
168
See Smeyers 1975, Koch 1977, Scillia 1982, Henry 1983, Cardon and Smeyers 1989 and Cardon 1996.
169
Voelkle 1989, p. 184. The other Old Testament subject accompanying Pentecost in the Biblia pauperum is
Moses receiving the Law. See Avril 1983, pl. XLIV.
170
Faith does not have a banderol. Her identity can be deduced by process of elimination.
171
Defoer et al. 1990, p. 146 and p. 152-157 (cat. nos. 45-46). List of gifts from Plummer 2002, plates 52-58.
172
Voelkle 1989, p. 187.
173
The description of the miniatures in Morgan M. 359 on the Corsair website of the Morgan Library
http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/BrowseSingleMs.cfm?msaccno=M.359 (consulted 31 August 2011) was
helpful in verifying the attributes of the Virtues.
164
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Faith, f. 74r (fig. 52b) is standing on a grey stone hexagonal pedestal, and looks towards the
left. She wears a blue cloak lined with ermine, a brown undergarment with a black belt and a
white wimple. Her arms are extended with an open book and a long twisted candle in her
right hand and a pair of stone tablets in her left hand. A small church rests on her head. The
figure is the largest in the series, about nine lines high.
Hope, f. 78r (Prime) (fig. 53b), stands (kneels?) on a bird cage, facing left, with her arms
extended. She has no hair covering and is dressed in a blue gown accented with a few gold
highlights. In her right hand she holds a pair of sickles (pointing upwards and curving back
towards her) and a hoe, which touches the ground. She holds a beehive in her left hand and
has a sailing ship pointing towards the right on her head. The background is a blue sky,
which is lighter in lower part where there are a number parallel brown lines suggesting
motion.
Charity, f. 83v (Terce) (fig. 54b), is atop a brazier with flames coming out of three rectangular
openings, and faces towards the left with her arms extended. She has no hair covering and is
dressed in a green gown. She holds a heart with the initials IHS (an abbreviation for the
sacred name of Jesus) in her right hand and a sun in her left hand. There is a pelican feeding
its young on her head. The background is similar to that in the initial on f. 78r.
Temperance, f. 86r (Sext) (fig. 55b), is standing on the roof of a windmill, facing left with her
arms extended. She wears a dark grey/black gown with a gold belt. She has a clock on top of
her bare head and a bit in her mouth. The reins attached to the bit are in her right hand; she
holds a large pair of spectacles in her left hand. The background is similar to the previous two
initials.
Justice, f. 88r (None) (fig. 56b), stands on a bed with a blue coverlet and wooden headboard
and looks towards the right with her arms extended She wears a bright red gown with a pair
of scales hanging from her belt. In her right hand is a spade which touches the ground. She
balances a sword, pointing downward, on her left hand. There is no object on her uncovered
head. The background is a blue sky with a rocky outcropping at right.
Prudence, f. 90v (Vespers) (fig. 57b), stands on the ground, facing left. She wears a blue
gown with a thin gold belt. She holds a mirror in her extended right hand. In her left hand,
she holds a shield, decorated with the Arma Christi, close to her body. There is a sack on the
ground in front of her with coins spilling out of it; a sieve stands on its edge just under the
shield, and a coffin balances on her uncovered head. The background is similar to that in the
first three initials.
Fortitude, f. 93v (Compline) (fig. 58b), is standing on a winepress, facing towards the left
with her arms extended. She wears a white head covering and a red gown with a belt similar
to that worn by Prudence. She holds a dragon in her right hand and a tower in her left hand.
There is an anvil on top of her head. The background is similar to that in the other initials.
The MFC did not invent this idiosyncratic series of attributes; they have their origins
in the new iconography of the Virtues.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
French origins of the new iconography
The Psychomachia of Prudentius, an early 5th century work, is an allegory of the battle
between the Virtues and the Vices for the human soul.174 There are sixteen extant illuminated
manuscripts of this work dating from the 9th century to 1298.175 In his classic study of the
Virtues and Vices in Medieval art, Adolf Katzenellenbogen distinguishes between dynamic
representations of the conflict between the Virtues and Vices and static representations of
systems of Virtues and Vices, giving special attention to the cycle at Notre Dame, Paris, as an
example of the latter. From the twelfth century, the classification of Virtues and Vices into
the seven Cardinal or Deadly Sins, the seven Gift Virtues and the seven Cardinal and
Theological Virtues became extremely popular, overshadowing the combatants of
Prudentius.176 The seven sins as defined by Gregory the Great (d. 604) were regarded as the
opposite of the seven Gift Virtues, related to the seven Gifts on the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:23).177 The three Theological Virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, were named by the Apostle
Paul in I Corinthians 13:13.178 The four Cardinal Virtues, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance and
Prudence, have their roots in classical antiquity, going back to the Republic of Plato; it was
Ambrose (d. 397) who first called them the Cardinal Virtues.179 In the monumental series by
Giotto in the Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1306, the seven Virtues and Vices are presented on
opposite sides of the chapel in the context of the Last Judgement, where they are accompanied
by objects which reflect their nature.180
Emile Mâle notes, with distaste which borders on indignation, the appearance of a new
manner of representing the Virtues in France in the 15th century:
Earlier we regretted that the fourteenth and fifteenth-century Virtues had no attributes
by which to distinguish one from another; the same cannot be said for these.
Sympathetic as we may be toward the old forms of French thought and art, we cannot
but be shocked by this symbolism whose subtlety borders on incomprehensibility, and
by its disconcerting lack of taste. This is what the simple and noble Virtues of our
thirteenth-century cathedrals had come to! These might well be acrobats parading
across a stage at a fair.181
Mâle thought that the earliest example of the new iconography appeared in a manuscript of
Nicole Oresme‟s translation of Artistotle‟s Ethics, c. 1454 (Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale,
Ms. 927), f. 17v.182 All seven Virtues with their various attributes are depicted in a vaulted
interior space with a cloth of honour in the middle background, from left to right, Faith, Hope,
Charity, Temperance, Justice, Prudence and Fortitude. Mâle was able to explain the attributes
of the Cardinal Virtues on the basis of verses accompanying a miniature in a manuscript made
for Jacques d‟Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, c. 1470 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Ms. fr.
9186) f. 304r.183 The miniature served as a frontispiece for one of the texts in the manuscript,
a French version of Martin of Braga‟s Formula Vitae Honestae.184 All of the Virtues are
depicted in an interior setting, each in her own quadrant, with a verse in a frame hanging
174
See O‟Reilly 1988, p. 1-32, for a synopsis of the content of the Psychomachia.
Katzenellenbogen 1989, p. 3-4 includes a list of these.
176
O‟Reilly 1988, p. 83. Table of the chief Medieval classifications of the Virtues and Vices on p. 45-46.
177
O‟Reilly 1988, p. 41-44.
178
Van Dael 2003, p. 210.
179
O‟Reilly 1988, p. 112.
180
Van Dael 2003, p. 210. See p. 211 for a description of the series.
181
Mâle 1986 [1908], p. 291.
182
Voelkle 1989, p. 185; rep. p. 190, fig. 8.
183
Mâle 1986, p. 287. Tuve 1963, p. 279, finds that the verses were not the source of the new iconography, but
were probably written later as an explanation of the imagery.
184
Voelkle 1990, p. 58, rep. p. 80, fig.2. See p. 58-61 for a transcription of the French texts with English
translations (prose and verse). Also rep. Voelkle 1989, p. 191, fig. 9 and Tuve 1963, pl. 33a.
175
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26 October 2011
above their heads. All are sitting except for Fortitude, who is standing as she pulls the dragon
from the tower, and are in the following order, from upper left to lower left (clockwise),
Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude.
In an article of great erudition, Rosemond Tuve discusses an earlier example (1450) of
the new iconography which accompanies a French version of selected portions of the
Breviloquium de virtutibus by John of Wales, a Franciscan who wrote in the late thirteenth
century (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Laud misc. 570, ff. 1-23v).185 Here three of the
Cardinal Virtues are depicted with their various attributes and are accompanied by a group of
young women, identified by scrolls, representing their subdivisions: f. 9v Prudence; f. 16r
Temperance and f. 21v Fortitude.186 Tuve also identifies related depictions of the Cardinal
Virtues in two manuscripts of Jean Mansel‟s Fleur des histoires: Brussels, KB, Ms. 9232, f.
448v and London, British Library, Add. Ms. 6797, f. 276r.187 In these miniatures, however,
only selected attributes are included.188 Although Tuve was unable to identify the text from
which the new iconography derived, she thought that it could “be a description, perhaps quite
short, or a listing or summary or translated sketch, in the Macrobian line of descent (…) It
need not be anything that belongs in a sumptuous book, designed for kings, but a tract in
which the Macrobian-Ciceronian „offices‟ are carried one step beyond the definitions we find
to be so commonplace, to the visible objects which now puzzle us.”189 She also suggested
that the new iconography could be connected to dukes of Burgundy and “related patrons of
vernacularized didactic and devotional material.”190
William Voelkle identified the earliest use of the new iconography in a French Book
of Hours, c. 1430, with illumination by the Bedford Master (New York, Morgan Library,
M.359).191 Here the Virtues accompany the Hours of the Holy Spirit (ff. 115v-119r). The
illumination begins with a miniature of Pentecost (f. 115v) with a roundel in each corner
depicting, from upper left clockwise, the Baptism of Christ, Christ sending the apostles into
the world to spread the gospel, an angel administering the ointment of grace and St. Peter
Preaching.192 The Virtues are depicted standing in roundels in the margins of the recto folios
and in half-circular vignettes in the margins of the verso folios. Each Virtue is identified by a
text in French above her head and is also connected to one of the seven petitions in the Lord‟s
Prayer by means of a banderol in Latin. The prayer was recited to receive the seven gifts of
the Holy Spirit.193 The Hours of the Holy Spirit are preceded by the Hours of the Holy Cross
(ff. 111v-115r) with depictions of the seven sacraments in the border roundels and followed
by the Office of the Dead (ff. 119v-165r) whose border roundels contain an early and
extensive cycle of the Dance of Death (beginning f. 123v).
The Virtues in Morgan M.359 are depicted in the same sequence as the Virtues in
Rouen Ms. 927. The Theological Virtues, Faith (f. 116r) (fig. 52a), Hope (f. 116v) (fig. 53a)
185
Tuve 1963, p. 264. The text precedes Christine de Pisan‟s Epitre de’Othéa. Reproductions via
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/s/t8e23q (consulted 12 September 2011).
186
The subdivisions of the Cardinal Virtues have their origins in Cicero and Macrobius, see Tuve 1963, p. 267
ff. and Voelkle 1989, p. 186.
187
Tuve 1963, p. 274, (rep. pl. 32a) and 281 (rep. pl. 34a), respectively.
188
See Bautz 1999, p. 212-213, for a series of tables comparing the attributes accompanying the Virtues in
Morgan M. 359, Rouen Ms. 927, Paris Ms. 9186, Bodleian Ms. Laud misc. 570, Brussels Ms. 9232 and London
ms. 6797. She omits Fortitude from M.359 in her table for that Virtue, even though it is depicted there.
Furthermore, although she knows of Voelkle‟s 1989 study, Bautz does not mention the Amerongen/Vronensteyn
Hours in her discussion of the new iconography of the Virtues (p.207-214).
189
Tuve 1963, p. 287-288.
190
Tuve 1963, p. 288-289.
191
Volkle 1989 and 1990.
192
Voelkle 1990, p. 66. Detailed description and reproductions via
http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/BrowseSingleMs.cfm?msaccno=M.359 (consulted 13 September 2011).
193
Voelkle 1989, p. 186-187.
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26 October 2011
and Charity (f.117r) (fig. 54a), are dressed in their appropriate colours, white, green and red,
respectively. The Cardinal Virtues follow the order given by Ambrose, Temperance (f. 117v)
(fig. 55a), Justice (f. 118r) (fig. 56a), Prudence (f. 118v) (fig. 57a) and Fortitude (f. 119r) (fig.
58a).194 Although Voelkle was also unable to identify the precise source of the new
iconography, he thought that it almost certainly originated in Paris, possibly as early as the
1420s and perhaps in the circle of John, Duke of Bedford (husband of Anne of Burgundy, the
sister of Philip the Good).195
The Virtues by the MFC in the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours (c. 1460) are also
depicted within the context of the Hours of the Holy Spirit and in the same sequence as those
in Morgan M.359. The cycles are closely related, but the former is not copied directly from
the latter.196 In the case of Justice, the sword pointing upwards in the right hand of the Virtue
(Morgan M. 359, f. 118r) has been replaced by a spade touching the ground (Brussels, Ms. II
7619, f. 88r).197 The backgrounds are also quite different. In Morgan M.359, Faith,
Temperance and Justice are in a setting with green grass with a scattering of yellow flowering
plants; behind them is a red and gold plaid cloth with a blue floral motif in the centre of the
squares. Hope, Charity, Prudence and Fortitude are in an interior setting with a green tiled
floor and a red cloth of honour with gold decoration against a diapered background (the cloth
behind Charity is blue). In the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours, the Virtues are depicted in a
rather non-descript setting suggesting a landscape. Faith (f. 74r) is the only Virtue depicted in
the border in that manuscript and she is considerably larger than the remaining Virtues in the
historiated initials. She is not in a roundel but stands among the border decoration on a
pedestal supported by a male figure. Since the Morgan manuscript remained in France until
the 16th century, Voelkle suggests that the transmission of the new iconography to the Low
Countries was through an intermediary somehow connected to M.359.198
About fifteen years later, the MFC, now working in the Southern Netherlands, returns
to the new iconography when he depicts the Virtues accompanying the Tuesday Hours of the
Holy Spirit in XXV C 26.
The Virtues in the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit in XXV C 26 (ff. 22r-24v)
The Weekday Hours are the first series of texts in XXV C 26 (ff. 15r–33v). The first
five Hours, all in the fourth gathering, conform to the standard sequence, but instead of the
Friday Hours of the Holy Cross and the Saturday Hours of the Virgin, the last in the series is
the Hours of the Passion of the Lord and the Compassion of the Blessed Mary. All of the
illumination in this section is by the MFC, except for the column miniature of the Trinity on f.
15r by the Master of Willem van Bossuyt. Before discussing the depictions of the Virtues
accompanying the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit, it is perhaps worthwhile to mention
some of the other unusual iconography in this section.
The Sunday Hours of the Holy Trinity begin, appropriately enough, with a column
miniature of the Trinity (Mercy Seat). The historiated initials depict God in his role as
Creator. Unlike the Creation series in the miniature by the MFC in the Utrecht History Bible
(The Hague, KB, Ms. 78 D 39, f. VIIIv), these do not conform to the sequence of events
described in Genesis. The first historiated initial (f. 15v) depicts God in a red robe at left
pointing up towards a star-filled sky. This is identified in the description by the Byvanck
194
Voelkle 1990, p. 66-67.
Voelkle 1990, p. 71-72.
196
Voelkle 1989, p. 187.
197
Perhaps the MFC unintentionally substituted the spade that is in the right hand of Hope (cf Morgan M.359, f.
116v).
198
Voelkle 1989, p. 188.
195
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26 October 2011
Genootschap (BG) as the Creation of the stars (Fourth Day of Creation, Gen. 1:16).199 In the
second initial (f. 16r), a figure, now in a blue robe, gestures towards a winged figure in white
on the right. I am unable to connect this with any of the Days of Creation. The BG calls this
“Creation: division of light and darkness/gathering of the waters below the firmament,” but
this doesn‟t really correspond to what is depicted. Could it possibly be a depiction of Christ
(God the Son) and the Holy Spirit, or perhaps God sending his spirit out over the waters (Gen.
1: 2)? The third initial (f. 16v) with God, again in red, in a landscape with trees seems to be
the Third Day of Creation which includes the creation of plants and trees (Gen.1:9-10). The
fourth initial (f. 17r) is definitely the Creation of Adam, with the spirit of God entering his
nostrils (Gen. 2:7).200 This is followed by the Creation of Eve (f.17v) (Gen. 2:21-22) (fig.
59b). The sixth initial (f. 18r) in the series, which shows God and Adam in the midst of
various creatures, could be Adam naming the animals (Gen. 2:20), although this is identified
by the BG as the Creation of birds and fishes (Gen. 1: 20), which occurs in Genesis on the
fifth day, before the creation of Man.
A possible explanation of the phenomenon of the changing red and blue robe of God
can be found in the depiction of the Creation of Eve in the border of the Crucifixion at the
beginning of the Hours of the Holy Cross (f. 111v) in Morgan M. 359 (fig. 59c), where the
Creator figure is also in blue. On the Morgan Library website, this is figure is identified as
Christ-Logos.201 This would then be an allusion to John 1: 1-4, 14:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him
was not anything made that was made. (…) And the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory as of the only Son from the
Father.
The inclusion of God the Son in the creation initials in XXV C 26 seems entirely appropriate
within the context of the Hours of the Trinity.
In the Monday Hours of the Dead, the illumination is based on woodcuts from the Ars
moriendi. The beginning of Matins is missing. Since the four other Weekday Hours in this
gathering all begin with a column miniature, I assume that this was also the case here.
The subject could have been a depiction another scene from the Ars moriendi, or possibly a
burial (such as the case in the full-page miniature accompanying the Monday Hours of the
Dead in the Trivulzio Hours, f. 30v), or a funeral mass (full-page miniature of this subject
before the Monday Hours of the Dead in the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, f. 49v) or a depiction
of Souls in Hell (like the historiated initial in the Monday Hours of the Dead, Hours of
Catherine of Cleves, f. 97r).202 There could also have been an historiated initial at the
beginning of Matins.203
The obvious subject of the column miniature at the beginning of the Wednesday Hours
of All Saints (f.25r) would be a depiction of All Saints as is the case in the Truvulzio Hours (f.
59v) and the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (f. 64v), but instead it is the Madonna of Humility. The
historiated initials depict the story of Joachim and Anna and the early life of the Virgin.
199
See Alexander Willem Byvanck Genootschap, 1993, p. 29, for all the subjects in the Creation series.
In the last three historiated initials (ff. 17r, 17v and 18r) God is depicted in a blue robe.
201
http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/BrowseSingleMs.cfm?msaccno=M.359 (consulted 17 September 2011).
It is interesting that the depiction of the Creation of Eve in XXV C 26 is closer to that in Morgan M.359 than the
depiction by the MFC in KB Ms. 78 D 39 (fig. 59a). See Voelkle 1990, p. 68 for the connection of the seven
virtues and gifts with Christ‟s passion.
202
As far as I could see, Verbeek 2008 offers no suggestions for the subject of the missing illumination in her
thesis.
203
A column miniature plus an historiated initial for Matins occurs in the Wednesday Hours of All Saints and the
Thursday Hours of the Holy Sacrament. In the Sunday Hours of the Holy Trinity and the Tuesday Hours of the
Holy Spirit, there is a decorated initial at the beginning of Matins.
200
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26 October 2011
The Thursday Hours of the Holy Sacrament start with a column miniature of a priest
holding a monstrance flanked by two acolytes (f. 27r). Matins begins with an historiated
initial showing a man kneeling in prayer before a table with an open book. Instead of
focusing on the Eucharist, perhaps by including typological scenes and a depiction of the Last
Supper, the subjects of the remaining historiated initials are slightly ambiguous.204 By
including an historiated initial for Matins, it would have been possible to depict all six
remaining Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Confession, Ordination, Marriage and
Extreme Unction.205 The description of the subjects by the BG is as follows: f. 27v, Second
Sacrament, Confession; f. 28ra, Third Sacrament, Confirmation; f. 28rb, Fourth Sacrament,
Eucharist (?); f. 28va, Fifth Sacrament, Ordination; f. 28vb, Sixth Sacrament, Marriage; f. 29r,
Seventh Sacrament, Extreme Unction.206 While the first initial on f. 28r could represent
Confirmation, it is hard to imagine that the second initial, which depicts a man lying in a bed
with a red coverlet in an empty room (setting virtually identical to that in the last historiated
initial in the Hours of the Dead, f. 21rb), is a depiction of the Eucharist. There is apparently
nothing which could be interpreted as a depiction of the Sacrament of Baptism.207
The Hours Passion of Christ and the Compassion of the Blessed Mary (ff. 30r-33v)
begin in the next gathering. The only illumination is an historiated initial depicting the
Crucifixion, f. 30r.
The Sunday and Thursday Hours begin depictions that relate to their subjects. The
depictions in the historiated initials in these Hours are, however, either out of sequence and/or
incomplete. The subject of illumination accompanying the Wednesday Hours of All Saints is
totally unexpected, but follows the standard sequence in the historiated initials. It is perhaps
useful to keep some of these unusual aspects in mind when discussing the Tuesday Hours of
the Holy Spirit.
These begin on f. 22r with a column miniature of Pentecost showing the kneeling
Virgin surrounded on both sides by the Apostles in an apse with a tiled floor. The dove of
Holy Spirit appears in an aureole above them. The Virtues are depicted in four-line
historiated initials beginning with Prime in the following order: Faith (f. 22va) (fig. 52c),
Hope (f. 22vb) (fig. 53c), Charity (f. 23rb) (fig. 54c), Temperance (f. 23va) (fig. 55c), Justice
(f. 23vb) (fig. 56c) and Fortitude (f. 24ra) (fig. 58c).208 These are practically in same order as
the Virtues in Morgan M.359 and the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours, but because there is a
decorated initial at the beginning of Matins, there is room for only six of the seven Virtues;
Prudence is missing. Thus like the Sunday Hours of the Holy Trinity and the Thursday Hours
of the Holy Sacrament, the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit begin with a column miniature
related to its subject and there is a missing element in the historiated initials.
There are no banderols with inscriptions, but because of their similarity to the earlier
depictions, the Virtues can be identified with certainty. Could the absence of inscriptions
indicate that by the last quarter of the 15th century, the new iconography of the Virtues was so
well known that labels seemed redundant, or did the MFC assume that, since he knew which
Virtue was which, others would too? The Virtues in XXV C 26 are definitely related to those
in the other two manuscripts. They appear in the same order (except for the omission of
204
The incipit refers to the Horae de sacramento pro die Iovis (i.e. “sacrament” singular (the Eucharist) not
plural).
205
Each of the first five Weekday Hours is made up of seven Hours; Lauds is omitted.
206
Alexander Willem Byvanck Genootschap, 1993, p. 30.
207
I only have access to reproductions of ff. 27r and 28r, so I am unable to comment on the subjects of the other
historiated initials.
208
Wolf 1996, p. 238, incorrectly identifies the figures on f. 22v as an allegory of Church and Synagogue; she
doesn‟t include the four remaining historiated initials in her list of illumination. The Virtues are correctly
identified in Alexander Willem Byvanck Genootschap, 1993, p. 29.
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26 October 2011
Prudence) and also occur within a text devoted to the Holy Spirit. There are, however, a
number of differences.
The backgrounds of the historiated initials in XXV C 26 are clearly landscapes. These
are varied and are quite detailed; there are even tiny boats sailing on the lake behind Fortitude.
The Virtues are clearly based on those in the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours, but are painted
in a less detailed, sketchier manner. If you hadn‟t seen the depiction in the Brussels
manuscript, you might not realize that Justice was standing on a bed. In two cases, the
simplification interferes with the symbolism: the pelican feeding its young on the head of
Charity has become a single white bird of indeterminate species and the scales hanging from
the belt of Justice have been omitted. In spite of these examples, the attributes in
Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours are virtually intact in XXV C26. In one respect the depiction
of Justice in XXV C26, where a correction has been made, is closer to the example in the
Morgan Hours. A clear outline indicates that the sword in her right hand was pointing
downwards, but this has been changed so that it now points upwards, as it does in M.359.209
Another point of reference with M.359 is the proximity of the Virtues to the seven sacraments
which are depicted in the borders of the preceding text (Hours of the Holy Cross) and in XXV
C 26 in the Thursday Hours of the Holy Sacrament, albeit in an incomplete form.
If there was ever any significance to the colours of the garments worn by the Virtues,
this must have been forgotten or overlooked by the time the new iconography reached the
Low Countries:
Virtue
Faith
M.359
White nun‟s habit
Hope
Green gown; white
turban
Red gown
Blue gown
Charity
Temperance
Justice
Light brown gown; blue
cloak w/ ermine lining
Prudence
Fortitude
Blue gown; wimple
Black gown; wimple
Ms. II 7629
Brown gown;
wimple; Blue cloak
w/ermine lining
Blue gown
Green gown
Dark grey/black
gown
Bright red gown
Blue gown
Red gown; white
head covering
XXV C 26
Blue gown; wimple
Black cloak edged in
gold
Red gown; white
head covering
Dark grey gown
Red gown
Black gown; red
cloak w/ermine
lining
n/a
Blue gown
In the twenty depictions, there is only once instance where the colour of the gown in the
same: Prudence in blue in M.359 and Ms. II 7629 (Virtue omitted in XXV C26).
The inclusion of the new iconography of the Virtues in XXV C 26 is a fascinating
example of the transmission of a cycle most likely originating in France c. 1420 to the
Northern Netherlands (Utrecht) in 1460 and its reuse by the same artist, the Master of the
Feathery Clouds, in a manuscript made in the Southern Netherlands (Ghent) c. 1475. In each
case, the Virtues are depicted in the context of the Hours of the Holy Spirit. The original
source has not yet been identified, but perhaps the Holy Spirit was prominent there. The
source may have been connected to the dukes of Burgundy, as suggested by Tuve and implied
by Voelkle, but it must not have been too closely associated with them. Otherwise, it would
209
In the depiction of Justice in the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours, the MFC replaced the sword pointing
upwards seen in M.359 with a spade touching the ground.
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26 October 2011
seem highly unlikely that Jan van Amerongen, a prominent member of the anti-Burgundian
party in Utrecht who was even imprisoned by Bishop David of Burgundy in 1470,210 would
have opted to include the new iconography in his Book of Hours.
210
Defoer et al. 1990, p. 204.
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Summary and Conclusion
It seems safe to conclude that XXV C 26 was made on commission and not a Book of
Hours produced for the open-market. The presence of so many obscure saints related to the
Abbey of St. Pieters, Ghent, in the calendar indicate that the patron was closely connected to
that place. The choice of texts and their order, especially the Hours of Sts. Catherine and
Barbara and suffrages to the female saints preceding the Hours of the Virgin, and the
extensive programme of illumination which includes some unusual iconography, support the
conclusion that the manuscript was made for a specific, discerning individual.
The prominent place of the female saints does not necessarily indicate that the patron
was a woman. Men could also be deeply devoted to the Virgin and the female saints.211
There is an historiated initial of a man kneeling in prayer before an altar at the beginning of
the prayer Dit is een sonderlinghe oratie, f. 162v. The incipit is the only Dutch text in
Amsterdam Hours and the Latin text of the prayer also contains a type of decoration not found
elsewhere in the manuscript. These are fairly strong indications that the prayer was especially
important to the patron and that he could be the man is depicted in the historiated initial.
An analysis of the oeuvres of the artists involved in the illumination and its
relationship to that in other manuscripts provides insight into manuscript production in the
Low Countries in the second half of the 15th century. Hand A, the Master of the Feathery
Clouds (MFC) and Hand C, the Master of Gerard Brilis (MGB) both work with established
artists on major commissions. When the MFC was in Utrecht in the 1460s, he collaborated
with the Master of Evert Zoudenbalch on the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours (Brussels, KB,
Ms. II 7619, c.1460) and the Bible of Evert Zoudenbalch (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 2771-2772, c.
1465). Master B of the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours worked with the MFC in Oxford,
Bodleian Library, Ms. Douce 381. The Master of Gijsbrecht van Brederode also contributed
to the Bible in Vienna. He and the MFC worked together again on Book of Hours (Liège,
University Library, Ms. Wittert 34, c. 1465).212
The MGB made a modest contribution to the Roman de Girart de Roussillon (Vienna
ÖNB Cod. 2549) where he came in contact with the Girart Master who has been identified
with Dreux Jehan. In the Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch (Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek.,
Cod.brev.162) he collaborated with Lieven van Lathem (or, Dreux Jehan/Sachsenhiem
Master). Lievan van Lathem and the Girart Master both worked on Prayer Book of Philip the
Good (Paris, BN, Ms. n.a. fr.16428).213 The miniature of the Visitation in XXV C 26 (f. 72v),
especially the figure of Elizabeth, is closely related to the depiction of the subject on f. 46r of
that manuscript. There are also connections to illumination by Lieven van Lathem in the
Hours of Mary of Burgundy (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod.1857): the composition and the costumes in
the full-page miniature of Christ before Pilate (f. 74v) are similar to the depiction of the
Massacre of the Innocents (f. 87v) and the historiated initial of the Circumcision (f. 90r)214 is
related to the miniature of the Presentation in the Temple (f. 83v). The MGB worked twice
with both Antonis uten Broec, a documented Utrechter, and Gerard Brilis: in the Carthusian
Bible of Herne where all three participated, with Antonis uten Broec in the Missal in Mondovi
and with Gerard Brilis in the Carthusian Bible from Scheut. The motif of a couple being
married in a historiated initial attributed to the Master of Gijsbrecht van Brederode in the
211
Richard de Visch van der Cappelle, for example, commissioned a painting of the Virgo inter Virgines from
Gerard David, most likely for an altar dedicated to St. Catherine in the chapel of St. Anthony Abbot in the
church of St. Donatian, Bruges. London, National Gallery (inv. no. NG 1432). De Visch van der Cappelle was
cantor of St. Donatian (see Weed 2002, p. 177).
212
The Zoudenbalch Master also contributed to the Hours of Gijsbrecht van Brederode (Liège, University
Library, Ms. Wittert 13, c, 1465-1470).
213
Wolf 1995, p. 275-279 (cat. no.11).
214
Border by Maître Y. See Unterkircher and De Schryver 1969, v. 2, p. 54-55.
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26 October 2011
Bible of Evert Zoudenbalch also appears in an elongated medallion in the border by the MGB
in Cod.brev 162, f. 127r.215 The script in the Tenschert Hours has been attributed to Nicolas
Spierinc who also was the scribe in a Book of Hours with illumination by the MFC (Madrid,
BN, Ms. Vitr. 24-10). The penwork in the calendar of XXV C 26 has been mentioned in
connection with Spierinc who also provided the script for the Prayer Book of Charles the
Bold, the Trivulzio Hours and the Hours of Mary of Burgundy. These three manuscripts
contain illumination by Lieven van Lathem, Simon Marion and the Vienna Master of Mary of
Burgundy. Although the MGB is not known to have collaborated with Simon Marmion,
Marmion‟s influence on the evolution of the style of the MGB has been demonstrated.
Not nearly so much is known about Hand B, the Master of Willem van Bossuyt. His
name work was made for an important patron and his style is clearly influenced by the prolific
Willem Vrelant, who worked in Utrecht before moving to Bruges between 1452 and 1454.
If we accept that Hand D is Maître Y, a border painter active in the Hours of Mary of
Burgundy, this would provide another link to the work of Lieven van Lathem. In the cases
where the borders by Maître Y in the Vienna manuscript (ff. 105r and 112r) are closely
related to the borders in XXV C 26, the historiated initials are by Lieven van Lathem
(Massacre of the Innocents and Flight into Egypt, respectively).
Another important aspect is the reuse and development of compositions and motifs.
The compositions of many of the full-page miniatures by the MGB in XXV C 26 are very
close to those in the Tenschert Hours. His depictions of subjects, such as the Visitation (f.
72v) and David in Penance (f. 97v), also evolve in the course of his career. Hand D is
familiar with border motifs fashionable in the Low Countries during the 1470s and also
borrows specific elements from the Hours of Mary of Burgundy where on several occasions
he supplied the borders accompanying illumination by Lieven van Lathem.
The MFC provides an example of a prolific artist who worked in both the Northern
and Southern Netherlands. The Virtues accompanying the Tuesday Hours of the Holy Spirit
in XXV C 26 are directly related to those in the Amerongen/Vronensteyn Hours, painted in
Utrecht c. 1460 with an entirely different set of collaborators. The new iconography in these
series most likely originated in France c. 1420.
The description of XXV C 26 in this thesis, which highlights some of its exceptional
features and which also attempts to put it into context by relating it to other manuscripts,
demonstrates the kaleidoscopic interaction of artists who play different roles as they
collaborate on various commissions and the bi-lateral flow of influence between the Northern
and Southern Netherlands.
215
ÖNB, Cod. 2772, f. 10r. Reproduced Defoer, H.L.M. et al., 1990, p. 203, fig. 107 (under cat. no. 61). See De
Schryver 2008, p. 177.
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P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
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Appendix 1 – Codicological description
56
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26 October 2011
Codicological description
University Library Amsterdam (UBA), Ms. XXV C 26216
Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin
Content
1. Calendar, f. 2v-14r
2. Horae de Sancta Trinitate pro die dominica, f. 15r-18v
3. Horae pro fidelibus defunctis, f. 18v-21v
4. Horae de Sancto Spiritu, f. 22r-24v
5. Horae de omnibus sanctis, f. 25r-27r
6. Horae de sacramento pro die Iovis, f. 27r-29r
7. Horae de passione domini et de compassione beatae mariae, f. 30r-33v
8. Oratio veneribilis bede, f. 33v-36v
9. Oratio ad dominum, f. 36v-37r
10. Oratio devota ad dominum, f. 37r-41r
11. Horae de sancta Katherina, f. 41v-45v
12. Horae de sancta Barbara, f. 46r-48v
13. Suffrages to female saints, f. 49r-53v
14. Horae beatae Mariae secundum usum romanae curiae, f. 54v-96r
15. Septem psalmum and litany, f. 97v-109r
16. Vigilie pro fidelibus defunctis, in nocturnen, f.110v-135r
17. Commendationes, f. 136r-139r
18. In die *cu.ar* non dicitur tunc roget sacerdos pro eo, f. 139r-139v
19. [unknown ; no rubric], f. 139v-141r
20. Ad proprium angelum, f. 141r-141v
21. Orationes de Beata Maria Virgine, f. 141v-142r
22. Alia oratio de sancta Maria (Obsecro te), f. 142r-144r
23. Oratio de nostra domina (O intemerata), f. 144r-145r
24. In purificatione Mariae, f. 145v
25. In annunciatione Mariae, f. 145v-146r
26. Suffrages to male saints, f.147r-155v
27. Oratio de sancto Thoma, f. 156r
28. Oratio in circumscisione Domini, f. 156r
29. Oratio in epiphania Domini, f. 156v-157r
30. Suffrage to St. Julian, f. 157r
31. Suffrage to St. Paul the Hermit, f. 157r
32. Suffrage to St. Vincent, f. 157v-158r
33. Oratio in conversione sancti Pauli, f. 158r
34. Suffrage to St. Blasius, f. 158r
35. Suffrage to St. Amand, f. 158r-159v
36. Oratio de cathedra sancti Petri, f. 159r-159v
37. Suffrages to male saints, f. 159v-161v
38. Oratio ad faciem Christi, f. 162r-162v
39. Een sonderlinghe oratie, f. 162v-163v
40. Oratio si quis habens tribulationem, f. 163v-165r
216
The codicological description is in large part based on the Totaalschema hs. XXV C26 by Jos Biemans and the
Codicologische beschrijving handschrift Amsterdam, UBA XXV C26 by Mark Aussems, both of which were
prepared in connection with the seminar, Het middeleeuwse boek, University of Amsterdam, September 2006. I
am deeply indebted to the authors.
57
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26 October 2011
41. Oratio de 10,000 maritibus, f. 165r-166v
42. Salve regina, f. 167v-171r
43. Oratio de beati Georgii, f. 172r-172v
44. Oratio, f. 172v
45. Oratio [no rubric], f. 172v-173r
46. Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi, secundum Johanni, f. 175r-180r
Location and date
Ghent,217 c. 1475.
Material and construction
Parchment, i + 181 + i folios, modern pagination in pencil, 24 gatherings with modern
signatures in pencil a-aa, 18 [1-8], 26 [9-14], 38-1 [15-21 (minus 1 after 18)], 4-78 [22-53], 88+1
[54-62 (plus 1 after 53)], 98+1 [63-71 (plus 1 after 64)], 108+1+1 [72-81 (plus 1 after 72; plus 1
after 75)], 118+1+1 [82-91 (plus 1 after 82; plus 1 after 86)], 124+1 [92-96 (plus 1 after 96)],
138+1 [97-105 (plus 1 after 96)], 146+1+1 [106-113 (plus 1 after 109; plus 1 after 112)], 15-178
[114-137], 188+1 [138-146 (plus 1 after 145)], 196+1 [147-153 (plus 1 after 149)], 208 [154161], 218+1+1 [162-171 (plus 1 after 166; plus 1 after 170)], 222 [172-173], 232 [174-175], 246
[176-181], 190 x 140 (107 x 88) mm, 2/23 (gathering 6, 2/22; calendar written in one
column), ruled in red (in purple only in gathering 6).
Script
Littera hybrida (bastarda), one hand.
Rubrication and decoration
Standard rubrication. The beginning of a text is signalled by an historiated initial (see below
under Illumination) or a decorated initial 4 to 5 lines high, alternately on a blue or light terra
cotta, or, less frequently, red ground, highlighted with filigree in gold or white paint. The
smaller initials, one or two lines high, and line endings are executed in the same manner. An
initial “I” or “J” is sometimes as long as 12 or 13 lines (f. 66v, f. 27r, respectively).
Illumination
11 full-page miniatures; 22 column miniatures; 1 two column miniature, 89 historiated
initials, 4-5 lines high. Illumination executed by four hands: Hand A is responsible the
historiated initials, borders and column miniatures in gatherings 3 (except for the column
miniature on f. 15r), 4, 6, 13, 14, 18 (except for the column miniature on f. 145r) and 19;
Hand B is responsible for the historiated initials, borders and column miniatures in gatherings
3 (only the column miniature on f. 15r), 5, 7-12, 17, 18 (only the column miniature on f.
145v), and 20-22, including the two column miniature on f. 175r; Hand C is responsible for
the full-page miniatures (f. 54v, f. 65v, f. 72v, f. 76v, f. 83v, f. 87v, f.92v, f. 97v, f. 110v, f.
167v, f. 174v). Hand D is responsible for the borders accompanying the full-page miniatures.
Binding
18th century red morocco, gilt, “Sterbinderij,” The Hague, c.1760-70.218
217
According to Marrow 2007, p. 175 the “graded liturgical calender” contains “many rare entries of saints
whose relics were venerated in Sint-Pieters Abbey in Ghent.” See p. 7-8 for a list of these saints.
218
Beumer 1977, p. 12.
58
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Provenance
An annotation on f. 181v states that the manuscript belonged to Marie Hardis, the wife of
Martin Matruut, a Bruges merchant. Later owned by her daughter, Adriane Matruut, who in
1559 was a nun in the convent of Sint Magriet in Deinze, near Ghent. An 18th century
annotation refers to familial relationship to Cardinal Madrutius, who participated in the
Council of Trent in 1554.219 Arnold Mettler, St. Gall. His anonymous sale Amsterdam, 22
November 1929 (lot 41).220 Acquired by the University Library Amsterdam (UBA)
(accession number 3765) during the period when S. van der Woude was Librarian (19691977).221 The number 22 appears in pencil on the inside front cover, perhaps a shelf mark or
lot number.
Literature
Alexander Willem Byvanck Genootschap, Illuminated manuscripts in Dutch collections :
preliminary precursor, part 2-3. The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1993, p. 29-31.
Belinfante, Judith C.E. and Astrid C.Balsem, Amsterdam in de wereld - De wereld in
Amsterdam. [cat. exh.] Amsterdam: Universiteitsbibliotheek, Bijzondere Collecties, 2007, p.
80 (cat. no. 34).
Beumer, Mieke et al., Tableau van aanwinsten verworven tijdens het bibliothecariaat van
prof. dr. S. van der Woude 1.1.1969 – 30.4.1977 : tentoongesteld van 2 mei to en met 14 juni
1977 : catalogus. [cat. exh.] Amsterdam: Universiteitsbibliotheek van Amsterdam, 1977, p.
12-13 (cat. no. I-3).
Brinkmann, Bodo, Die flämische Buchmalerei am einde des Burgunderreichs : der Meister
des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit. Turnhout: Brepolis, 1997, vol.1,
p. 238 (note 16).
Catalogue d’une collection de manuscrits à miniatures des IXe-XVe siècles : collection d’un
amateur Suisse : vente à Amsterdam le 22 novembre 1929 (…). [auction cat.] Amsterdam:
Frederik Muller, 1929, p. 20-21 (lot 41).
Chavannes-Mazel, Claudine A., “De ruimte van de middeleeuwse bladzijde,” Kunstschrift, 46
(2002)2, p. 39, fig. 37 (f. 87v)
Christie‟s, Valuable printed books and manuscripts, including natural history. [auction cat.]
London, 2 June 2004, p. 20 (under description of lot 14).
De Schryver, Antoine, The Prayer Book of Charles the Bold : a study of a Flemish
masterpiece from the Burgundian Court. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008, p. 76
(oblique reference to work by the Master of the Feathery Clouds for the Abbey of Saint Peter
in Ghent, citing Marrow, 1987).
Dogaer, George, Flemish miniature painting in the 15th and 16th centuries. Amsterdam: B.M.
Israël, 1987, p. 133, 136.
219
Beumer 1977, p. 13.
Marrow 2007, p. 187 (note 19).
221
Beumer 1977.
220
59
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Kren, Thomas, Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance : the triumph of Flemish
manuscript painting in Europe. [cat. exh.] Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003, p. 131,
note 14 (reference to Wolf, 1996 (cat. no. 1)).
Leuchtendes Mittelalter : 30 illumierte Manuskripte aus dem 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts aus
Flandern und Holland. [Ramsen]: Heribert Tenschert, 2008 (Neue Folge V), p. 67.
Marrow, James H., “Prolegomena to a new descriptive catalogue of Dutch illuminated
manuscripts.” In: Elly Cockx-Indestege, Hendrickx, Frans, eds., Miscellanea Neerlandica :
opstellen voor dr. Jan Deschamps ter gelegenheid van zijn zeventigste verjaardag. Leuven:
Peeters, 1987, vol.1, p. 308 (note 27).
____________ “The Master of Gerard Brilis.” In :Hofmann, Mara, Caroline Zöhl, eds. Quand
la penture était dans les livres : mélanges en l’honneur de François Avril.
[Turnhout]: Brepols, 2007, p. 175-176, 187-188 (notes 19-25) and passim.
Randall, Lilian M.C., Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol.
III : Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997, part 1,
p. 351 (under description of Ms. W. 208 (cat. no. 270)).
Rudy, Kathryn M., “The Trivulzio Hours, the Ghent Altarpiece, and the Mass as a devotional
subject,” Jaarboek voor Nederlandse boekgeschiedenis, (16) 2009, p. 204, 209 (col. illus. 1)
Verbeek, Ellie, De kunst van het sterven in miniatuur : afbeeldingen van de Ars moriendi in
een Vlaams handschrift uit ca. 1475. Masterscriptie Kunstgeschiedenis, Universiteit van
Amsterdam, 2008.
Wolf, Eva, Das Bild in der spätmittelalterlichen Buchmalerei : das Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch
im Werk van Lievin van Lathems. Hildesheim; New York: G. Olms, 1996, p. 237-240 (cat.
no.1) and passim.
Exhibitions
Amsterdam, Library of the University of Amsterdam, Tableau van aanwinsten verworven
tijdens het bibliothecariaat van prof. dr. S. van der Woude 1.1.1969 – 30.4.1977, 2 May – 14
June 1977.
Amsterdam, Special Collections, Library of the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam in de
wereld – de wereld in Amsterdam, 12 May – 16 September 2007.
60
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Appendix 2 – Overview of UBA Ms. XXV C26
61
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Overview, UBA Ms. XXV C26222
Gathering
(signature)
1 (a)
Folios
Remarks
Text
1-8
1v is blank
1r inscription/prayer
2r Signature of owner (illegible)
2 (b)
3 (c)
9-14
15-21
14 v is blank
Calendar (2v to 14r)
15r: Horae de Sancta Trinitate
pro die dominica (to18v)
Remains of removed
page visible between
18 and 19.
Beginning of matins
missing from Horae
pro fidelibus defunctis
222
18v: Horae pro fidelibus
defunctis (to 21v)
Illumination
Hand
15r Mercy Seat (column min.) Matins
15v Creation of light (the stars?) (hist. init.) Prime
16r Creation: division of light and darkness/ gathering of
waters (?)(hist. init.) Terce
16v Creation of the trees (hist. init.) Sext
17r Creation of Adam (hist. init.) None
17v Creation of Eve (hist. init.) Vespers
18r Adam naming the animals (hist. init.) Compline
B
A
A
19r Deathbed: priest and dying man; towers at left, small
building (shrine?)with little man on horseback at foot of
bed (hist. init.) Prime
19v Deathbed: dying man with stick in his hand; man and
woman at left making gestures of alarm. Afraid of
object/creature at foot of bed?(hist. init.) Terts
20r Deathbed: dying man looking at crucifix; man kneeling
at foot of bed (hist. init.) Sext
A
20v Deathbed: dying man, three figures at left (hist. init.)
None
21ra Deathbed: dying man, two figures at left; devils
throwing souls into Hell at foot of bed (hist. init.) Vespers
21rb Deathbed: dying man, Christ on the cross flanked by
Mary and John; devil walking away at left (coverlet
changes from green to red) (hist. init.) Compline
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
The overview is in large part based on the Totaalschema hs. XXV C26 by Jos Biemans and the Codicologische beschrijving handschrift Amsterdam, UBA XXV C26 by
Mark Aussems, both of which were prepared in connection with the seminar, Het middeleeuwse boek, University of Amsterdam, September 2006. I have also made extensive
use of Angelika M. Bisseling et al., Illuminated manuscripts in Dutch collections : preliminary precursor, part 2-3. The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1993, p. 29-31.
4 (d)
5 (e)
22-29
30-37
29v is blank
22r: Horae de Sancto Spiritu (to
24v)
22r Pentecost (col. min.) Matins
22va Fides (hist. init.) Prime
22vb Spes (hist. init.) Terce
23r Caritas (hist. init.) Sext
23va Temperantia (hist. init.) None
23vb Justitia (hist. init.) Vespers
24r Fortitudo (hist. init.) Compline
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
25r: Horae de omnibus sanctis
(to 27r)
25r Madonna of Humility (col. min.)
25ra Joachim’s offer refused (hist. init.) Matins
25va Meeting at the Golden Gate (hist. init.) Prime
25vb Birth of Mary (hist. init.) Terce
26ra Presentation of Mary in the temple (hist. init.) Sext
26rb Mary weaving in the temple (hist. init.) None
26va Joseph and young men putting rods on the altar (hist.
init.) Vespers
26vb Marriage of Mary and Joseph (hist. init.) Compline
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
27r: Horae de sacramento pro
die Iovis (to 29r)
27r Priest with monstrance (col.min.)
27ra Praying man (hist.init.) Matins
27v Confession (hist.init.) Prime
28ra Confirmation (hist.init.) Terce
28rb Man in bed (hist.init.) Sext
28va Ordination (hist.init.) None
28vb Marriage (hist.init.) Vespers
29r Extreme unction (hist.init.) Compline
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
30r: Horae de passione domini et
de compassione beatae mariae
(to 33v)
33v: Oratio veneribilis bede (to
36v)
36v: Oratio ad dominum (to 37r)
37r: Oratio devota ad
dominum(to 41r)
30r Crucifixion (hist. init.)
A
34r Priest and novice (Bede?) (hist. init.)
A
37r The risen Christ (hist. init.)
A
63
A
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
6 (f)
7 (g)
38-45
41v: Horae de sancta Katherina
(to 45v)
46-53
46r : Horae de sancta Barbara
(to 48v)
49r :Suffrage to St. Apollonia (to
49v)
49v: Suffrage to St. Margaret
(to50r)
50v: Suffrage to St. Mary
Magdalene (to 51r)
51r: Suffrage to St. Elizabeth of
Hungary (to 51v)
51v: Suffrage to St. Anne (to
52ra)
52va: Suffrage to St. Christina
(to 52v)
52vb: Suffrage to St. Pharahildis
(to 53r)
53r: Suffrage to St. Amalberga
(to 53v)
53v : Suffrage to St. Gertrude (to
53v)
8 (h)
54-62
54r is blank
9 (i)
63-71
Signature incorrectly
placed on 64r
54v: Horae beatae Mariae
secundum usum romanae curiae
(to 96r)
64
41v St. Catherine (col.min.) Matins
42r St. Catherine disputing with philosophers (hist. init.)
Prime
42v Scourging of St. Catherine (hist. init.) Terce
43r St. Catherine’s breasts torn with shears (hist. init.) Sext
43v St. Catherine praying before the wheel (hist. init.) None
44ra Beheading of St. Catherine (hist. init.) Vespers
44rb St. Catherine lifted from her grave by two angels (hist.
init.) Compline
46r St. Barbara (col.min.) Matins
46v Beheading of St. Barbara (hist. init.) Prime
49r St. Apollonia (col.min.)
A
A
49v St. Margaret (col.min.)
B
50v St. Mary Magdalene (col.min.)
B
51r St. Elizabeth of Hungary (col.min.)
B
51v Anne selbdritt (col.min.)
B
52va St. Christina (col.min.)
B
52vb St. Pharahildis (hist. init.)
B
53r St. Amalberga (hist. init.)
B
53v St. Gertrude (hist. init.)
B
54v Coronation of the Virgin (full page min.)
55r Annunciation (hist. init.) Matins
C/D
B
65v Annunciation (full page min.)
66r Visitation (hist. init.) Lauds
C/D
B
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
10 (k)
72-81
No full page miniature
before Sext.
72v Visitation (full page min.)
73r Nativity (hist. init.) Prime
76v Nativity; Annunciation to the Shepherds (full page
min.)
77r Annunciation to the Shepherds (hist. init.) Terce
80r Circumcision (hist. init.) Sext
83v Presentation in the temple (full page min.)
84r Adoration of the Magi (hist. init.) None
87v Massacre of the Innocents (full page min.)
88r Massacre of the Innocents (hist. init.) Vespers
92v Flight into Egypt (full page min.)
93r Flight into Egypt (hist. init.) Compline
97v David in prayer (full page min.)
98r David (hist. init.) sees Bathsheba bathing (in margin)
110v Raising of Lazarus (full page min.)
111r Soul taken up into heaven (hist. init.)
C/D
B
C/D
B
B
C/D
B
C/D
B
C/D
B
C/D
A
C/D
A
11(l)
82-91
12 (m)
92-96
13 (n)
97-105
97r is blank
14 (o)
106113
114121
122129
130137
138146
109v and 110r are
blank
97v: Septem psalmum and litany
(to 109r)
110v: Vigilie pro fidelibus
defunctis, in nocturnen (to 135r)
135v is blank
136r : Commendationes (to139r)
136r Angels carrying souls to heaven (col. min.)
B
146v is blank
139r: In die *cu.ar* non dicitur
tunc roget sacerdos pro eo
(to139v)
139v:[unknown (to 141r)]
141r: Ad proprium angelum
(to141v)
141v : Orationes de Beata Maria
Virgine (to 142r)
142r: Alia oratio de sancta
Maria (to 144r) (Obsecro te)
144r: Oratio de nostra domina
(to 145r) (O intemerata)
145v: In purificatione Mariae (to
145v)
145v: In annunciatione Mariae
139v Praying monks (hist. init.)
A
141r Traveller with guardian angel (hist. init.)
A
142r Madonna on the crescent moon (col. min.)
A
144r Mary and St. John the Evangelist (hist. init.)
A
145v Presentation in the temple (col. min.)
B
15 (p)
16 (q)
17 (r)
18 (s)
65
(to 146r)
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
19 (t)
20 (u)
147153
154161
147r: Suffrage to St. James the
Great (to 147v)
147v: Suffrage to St. Anthony
Abbot (to 148r)
148ra: Suffrage to St.
Christopher (to 148v)
149r: Suffrage to St. Sebastian
(to 149v)
149v: Suffrage to St. George (to
149v)
150r: Suffrage to St. Adrian (to
150v)
150va: Suffrage to St. Stephen
(to 150v)
150vb: Suffrage to St. Livinius
(to 151r)
151va: Suffrage to St. Bavo (to
151vb)
151vb: Suffrage to St. Macarius
(to 152v)
152va: Suffrage to St. Piatus (to
152v)
152vb: Suffrage to St. Job (to
153ra)
153rb: Suffrage to St. Cornelius
(to 153va)
153v: Suffrage to St. Daniel (to
154ra)
154ra: Suffrage to St. Andrew (to
154rb)
154rb: Suffrage to St. Nicholas
(to 154va)
154v: Suffrage to St. Nichasius
(to 155ra)
155ra: Suffrage to St. Lazarus
(to 155rb)
147r St. James the Great (col. min)
A
147v St. Anthony Abbot (col. min)
A
148r St. Christopher (col. min)
A
149r St. Sebastian (col. min)
A
149v St. George and the dragon (col. min)
A
150r St. Adrian (col. min) Martyrdom of St. Adrian
(margin)
150va St. Stephen (hist. init.)
A
150vb St. Livinius (hist. init.)
A
151va St. Bavo (hist. init.)
A
151vb St. Macarius (hist. init.)
A
152va St. Piatus (hist. init.)
A
152vb Job on the dunghill (hist. init.)
A
153r St. Cornelius (hist. init.)
A
153v Daniel in the lion’s den (hist. init.)
A
154ra St. Andrew (hist. init.)
B
154rb St. Nicholas (hist. init.)
B
154v St. Nichasius hist. init.)
B
155ra St. Lazarus (hist. init.)
B
A
B
66
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
20 (u) (cont.)
21 (x)
162171
167r is blank
171v is blank
155rb: Suffrage to St. Egidius (to
155v)
156ra: Oratio de sancto Thoma
156va)
156va: Oratio in circumscisione
Domini (to 156vb)
156vb: Oratio in epiphania
Domini (157ra)
157ra: Suffrage to St. Julian (to
157rb)
157rb: Suffrage to St. Paul the
Hermit (to 157va)
157va: Suffrage to St. Vincent
(to 158ra)
158ra: Oratio in conversione
sancti Pauli (to 158rb)
158rb: Suffrage to St. Blasius (to
158vb)
158v:Suffrage to St. Amand (to
159ra)
159r: Oratio de cathedra sancti
Petri (to 159va)
159va: Suffrage to St. Matthias
(to 159va)
159vb: Suffrage to St. Alexander
(160ra)
160ra: Suffrage to St. Gregory
(to 160rb)
160va: Suffrage to St. Quirinus
(to 160va)
160vb: Suffrage to St. Victor (to
161ra)
161ra: Suffrage to St.
Bernardino (to 161va)
162ra: Oratio ad faciem Christi
(to 162vb)
155rb St. Egidius (hist. init.)
B
156r St. Thomas (hist. init)
B
156va Circumcision (hist. init)
B
156vb Adoration of the Magi (hist. init)
B
157ra St. Julian with his wife ferrying Christ across the
river (hist. init)
157rb St. Paul the Hermit (hist. init)
B
157v St. Vincent (hist. init)
B
158ra Conversion of St. Paul (hist. init)
B
158rb St. Blasius (hist. init)
B
158v St. Amand (hist. init)
B
159r St. Peter on bishop’s throne (hist. init)
B
159va St. Matthias (hist. init)
B
159vb St. Alexander (hist. init)
B
160r St. Gregory (hist. init)
B
160va St. Quirinus (hist. init)
B
160vb St. Victor (hist. init)
B
B
161r St. Bernardino (hist. init)
162r Holy Face (hist. init.)
B
B
67
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
21 (x) (cont.)
22 (y)
172173
173v is blank
23 (z)
174175
174r is blank
24 (aa)
176181
181r is blank
162vb: Een sonderlinghe oratie
(to163va)(text of prayer in Latin)
163va:Oratio si quis habens
tribulationem (to165ra)
165rb: Oratio de 10,000
maritibus (to166v)
167v: Salve Regina (to171r)
172ra: Oratio de beati Georgii
(to 172va)
172va: Oratio (to172vb)
172vb:Oratio (to 173r)
162v Man kneeling with book in hands (hist. init.)
B
163v Salvator Mundi (hist. init.)
B
165r 10,000 martyrs of Mt. Ararat (col. min.)
C/D
175r : Passio Domini nostri Jesu
Christi, secundum Johanni
(to180r)
180v [probationes pennae]
181v [annotations concerning
ownership]
174v Crucifixion with Mary and St. John (full page min.)
175r Two angels with Arma Christi (two col. min.)
68
167v Maria lactans (full page min.)
C/D
B
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Figures
List of Figures
Fig. 1 Master of Gerard Brilis, Coronation of the Virgin, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26,
f. 54v
Fig. 2 Simon Marmion, Coronation of the Virgin, San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1173,
f. 61r
Fig. 3a Penwork calendar, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 8v
Fig. 3b Penwork calendar, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 11r
Fig. 4a Initial D, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 41v
Fig. 4b Initial M, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 46r
Fig 4c Initial S, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 147v
Fig. 4d Initial S, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 50v
Fig. 5 Master of the Feathery Clouds, St. Adrian, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 150r
Fig. 6 Master of the Feathery Clouds, St. James, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 147r
Fig. 7 Master of the Feathery Clouds, David in his palace (historiated initial); Bathsheba
(roundel), Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 98r
Fig. 8 Master of Gerard Brilis, Madonna and Child with two female saints, Stuttgart,
Landesbibliothek., Cod.brev.162, f. 95r
Fig. 9a Master of the Feathery Clouds, Madonna of Humility, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C
26, f. 25r
Fig. 9b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Madonna on the Crescent Moon, Amsterdam, UBA,
Ms. XXV C 26, f. 142r
Fig. 10 Willem Vrelant, Mercy Seat/Trinity, The Hague, KB, Ms. 76 F 7, f. 15v (Page 15,
MWvB, style)
Fig. 11 Master of Willem van Bossuyt, Mercy Seat/Trinity, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C
26, f. 15r (Page 15, MWvB, style)
Fig. 12 Willem Vreelant, St. Catherine, The Hague, KB, Ms. 76 F 7, f. 27v
Fig. 13 Master of Willem van Bossuyt, St. Christina, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f.
52va
Fig. 14a Master of Willem van Bossuyt, Visitation, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 66r
Fig. 14b Master of Willem van Bossuyt, Angels carrying souls to heaven, Amsterdam, UBA,
Ms. XXV C 26, f. 136r
Fig. 15 Master of Willem van Bossuyt, Arma Christi, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f.
175r
70
P.L. Pumplin
26 October 2011
Fig. 16 Master of Gerard Brilis, Visitation, St. Petersburg, Hermitage, Graphic arts
department, Ms. 6, f. 65v
Fig. 17 Master of Gerard Brilis, Scenes relating to the miracle of the shrine of St. Adrian,
Maredsous, Bibl. de l‟Abbaye, Ms. Fº 3/4, f. 1r
Fig. 18 Master of Gerard Brilis, St. Christopher, Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek., Cod.brev.162, f.
158r
Fig. 19 Master of Gerard Brilis, Coronation of the Virgin, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle,
Switzerland, f. 43v
Fig. 20 Master of Gerard Brilis, Coronation of the Virgin, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. S.n. 12908, f.
45r
Fig. 21 Master of Gerard Brilis, Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine and Barbara, Vienna,
ÖNB, Cod. S.n. 12908, f. 44v
Fig. 22 Master of Gerard Brilis, Annunciation, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 65v
Fig. 23 Hand C Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, Annunciation, Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek.,
Cod.brev.162, f. 87v
Fig. 24 Master of Gerard Brilis, Annunciation, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle, Switzerland,
f. 53v
Fig. 25 Master of Gerard Brilis, Visitation, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 72v
Fig. 26 Master of Gerard Brilis, Visitation, f 70v; Typological scene, f. 71r, Heribert
Tenschert, Bibermühle, Switzerland
Fig. 27 Gerart Master (Dreux Jehan?), Visitation, Paris, BNF, Ms. n.a. fr.16428, f. 46r
Fig. 28 Master of Gerard Brilis, Nativity/Annunciation to the shepherds, Amsterdam, UBA,
Ms. XXV C 26, f. 76v (Page 26, MGB in XXV C26)
Fig. 29 Master of Gerard Brilis, Nativity/Annunciation to the Shepherds, Heribert Tenschert,
Bibermühle, Switzerland, f. 88v
Fig. 30 Master of Gerard Brilis, Presentation in the Temple, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C
26, f. 83v
Fig. 31 Master of Gerard Brilis, Presentation in the Temple, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle,
Switzerland, f. 95v
Fig. 32 Lieven van Lathem, Circumcision, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 90r
Fig. 33 Master of Gerard Brilis, Massacre of the Innocents, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV
C26, f. 87v
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Fig. 34 Lieven van Lathem, Christ before Pilate, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 74v
Fig. 35 Master of Gerard Brilis, Massacre of the Innocents, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle,
Switzerland, f. 118v
Fig. 36 Master of Gerard Brilis, Flight into Egypt, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 92v
Fig. 37 Master of Gerard Brilis, Flight into Egypt, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle,
Switzerland, f. 130v
Fig. 38 Master of Gerard Brilis, David in penitence, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 97v
Fig. 39 Master of Gerard Brilis, David in prayer, Maredsous, Bibl. de l‟Abbaye, Ms. Fº 3/3, f.
25r
Fig. 40 Master of Gerard Brilis, David in penitence, Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek.,
Cod.brev.162, f. 104r
Fig. 41 Master of Gerard Brilis, Michal helping David escape from Saul‟s servants, Heribert
Tenschert, Bibermühle, Switzerland, f. 139v
Fig. 42 Master of Gerard Brilis, Raising of Lazarus, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f.
110v
Fig. 43 Master of Gerard Brilis, Raising of Lazarus, Heribert Tenschert, Bibermühle,
Switzerland, f. 165v
Fig. 44 Master of Gerard Brilis, Madonna of Humility/Maria lactans, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms.
XXV C 26, f. 167v
Fig. 45, Flemish, c. 1470, Madonna of Humility/Maria lactans, Baltimore, Walters Art
Gallery, W. 208, f. 27v
Fig. 46 Master of Gerard Brilis, Crucifxion, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C 26, f. 174v
Fig. 47 Hand C Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch, Crucifixion, Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek.,
Fig. 48 Master of Gerard Brilis, Crucifixion, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. S.n. 12908, f. 31v
Fig. 49 Lieven van Lathem, Massacre of the Innocents, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 105r
(border Maître Y)
Fig. 50 Lieven van Lathem, Flight into Egypt, Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1857, f. 112r (border
Maître Y)
Fig. 51 Master of the Feathery Clouds, Sacrifice of Elijah consumed by Flame (initial); Faith
(border), Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 74r
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26 October 2011
Fig. 52a Bedford Master, Faith, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 116r
Fig. 52b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Faith, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 74r
Fig. 52c Master of the Feathery Clouds, Faith, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 22va
Fig. 53a Bedford Master, Hope, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 116v
Fig. 53b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Hope, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 78r
Fig. 53c Master of the Feathery Clouds, Hope, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 22vb
Fig. 54a Bedford Master, Charity, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 117r
Fig. 54b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Charity, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 83v
Fig. 54c Master of the Feathery Clouds, Charity, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 23rb
Fig. 55a Bedford Master, Temperance, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 117v
Fig. 55b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Temperance, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f.
86r
Fig. 55c Master of the Feathery Clouds, Temperance, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f.
23va
Fig. 56a Bedford Master, Justice, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 118r
Fig. 56b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Justice, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 88r
Fig. 56c Master of the Feathery Clouds, Justice, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 23vb
Fig. 57a Bedford Master, Prudence, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 118v
Fig. 57b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Prudence, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 90v
Fig. 58a Bedford Master, Fortitude, New York, Morgan Library, M. 359, f. 119r
Fig. 58b Master of the Feathery Clouds, Fortitude, Brussels, Brussels, KB, Ms. II 7619, f. 93v
Fig. 58c Master of the Feathery Clouds, Fortitude, Amsterdam, UBA, Ms. XXV C26, f. 24ra
Fig. 59a Master of the Feathery clouds, Creation of Eve, The Hague, KB, Ms. 78 D 39, f.
VIIIv
Fig. 59b Master of the Feathery clouds, Creation of Eve, Amsterdam, UBA, XXV C 26, f.
17v
Fig. 59c Bedford Master, Creation of Eve, New York, Morgan Library, M.359, f. 111v
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26 October 2011