BURGUNDIAN ILLUMINATOR
A leaf from a Book of Hours, with illuminated initials, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, probably Burgundy, c. 1450]

Rich gold accents, jewel-toned decoration, and delicate foliate borders characterize this elegant leaf from a deluxe Book of Hours.

132 × 81 mm (visible). Single leaf, ruled in brown ink for single column of sixteen lines (justification: 76 × 57), foliation not visible, written in black ink, in a formal gothic bookhand, rubrics, versals, and responsories in red, two-line spacers alternating in red and blue with white penwork offset with gold bezants, three single-line initials and one 2-line initial in burnished gold on red and blue ground with white pen outlines, text bar in red, blue, and gold to left of column terminating in twisting foliate sprays of blue, red, and green vegetation at both top and bottom margins, partial panel borders of twining acanthus foliage framing top and bottom of text column, ending in painted blossoms, leaves, and gold bezants. Minimal wear to leaf, ink remains vibrant and saturated, and parchment clean with no visible losses to gold. Leaf is mounted in white matting, modern decorative description with flowers, birds, and insects painted below reading “Decorated Leaf, Book of Hours, France–Burgundy, Circa 1450.”

The leaf exemplifies mid-fifteenth-century Burgundian illumination, distinguished by its lustrous burnished gold initials, delicately scrolling acanthus foliage, and vivid jewel-tone palette, framed by elegant ivy-leaf sprays and accented with fine white penwork. These are hallmarks of the refined courtly style flourishing in Burgundy around 1450. The text presents the Responsory at Compline from the Hours of the Virgin, introduced by a two-line initial ‘I’ for the incipit: In te, Domine, speravi. The lavish border decoration decorating a page in the middle of the text of Compline indicates that the parent manuscript must have been a deluxe production.

Burgundian illumination stood at the forefront of fifteenth-century European art, blending the courtly sophistication of the Valois dukes with the manuscript traditions of northern France and the Low Countries. Under Burgundian patronage, these workshops became centers of artistic innovation, influencing Parisian ateliers, shaping Flemish manuscript painting, and continuing features of the International Gothic style into mid-century.

Provenance
(1) Private Collection.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; For studies of Burgundian illumination see: Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master, New York, 1968; Lorne Campbell, The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools, London, 1998; Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, ‘Moult Bons et Notables’: L’enluminure dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux (1400–1550), Brussels, 2007; Anne Korteweg, Splendour of the Burgundian Court: Art and Culture in the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century, Antwerp, 2009.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.

This lot is located in Chicago.

BURGUNDIAN ILLUMINATORA leaf from a Book of Hours, with illuminated initials, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, probably Burgundy, c. 1450]

BURGUNDIAN ILLUMINATORA leaf from a Book of Hours, with illuminated initials, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, probably Burgundy, c. 1450]

BURGUNDIAN ILLUMINATOR
A leaf from a Book of Hours, with illuminated initials, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, probably Burgundy, c. 1450]

BURGUNDIAN ILLUMINATOR
A leaf from a Book of Hours, with illuminated initials, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, probably Burgundy, c. 1450]