Pre-Eyckian realism in a densely illuminated Book of Hours for the English market

i (modern parchment) + 124 + ii (modern parchment) folios, modern foliation in pencil, probably missing two leaves with miniatures of Saint John the Evangelist and of Saints George and Edmund transposed, one or more leaves with the end of the Commendation of Souls and with the beginning and ending of the Missal section, otherwise complete [collation: i⁶ ii⁸ (+1; f. 7, inserted as a singleton) iii⁴ (+2 singletons, ff. 19 and 21, added after 3 and 4) iv⁴ (beginning f. 22; +4 singletons, ff. 23, 25, 27, and 29, inserted after 1, 2, 3, and 4) v⁶ (+5 singletons, ff. 31, 33, 36, 38, and 40, inserted after 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6) vi² (+2 singletons, ff. 42 and 44, inserted after 1 and 2) vii⁸ (beginning f. 45) viii⁸ ix⁸ (+1, f. 68, singleton added after 7) x⁸ xi⁸ (+2, ff. 80 and 87, singletons added after 2 and 8) xii⁸ xiii⁸ (+1, f. 98, singleton added after 2) xiv⁸ xv⁴ (structure uncertain, ending imperfectly) xvi⁸], ff. 1–112v written in brown ink in a fineGothic bookhand on twenty-two lines, ruled in pale brown ink (justification: 113 × 70 mm), rubrics in red, line fillers in red and blue, one-line initials in gold with purple pen decoration and in blue with red pen decoration, two- to three-line initials in gold on grounds of blue and rose with white ornamentation and ivy-leaf extensions into the margins, ten five-line foliate initials on gold grounds with leafy extensions forming partial or full borders in the margins, EIGHTEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES; ff. 113–124 (added English section), written in two columns of 30 lines (justification: 125 × 75 mm), with music in square notation on four-line red staves, one-line plain initials alternating in red and blue, two- to three-line blue initials with red pen decoration, occasionally containing human profile heads, four-line foliate initial with a full border at the beginning of Easter, five-line foliate initial with a full border at the opening of the Canon of the Mass, ONE FULL-PAGE MINIATURE. Bound in a twentieth-century blue velvet binding, quires tipped in, spine with six raised bands, in excellent condition, some miniatures rubbed and some marginal decoration cropped at the edges, but generally in sound and good condition. Dimensions 170 × 115 mm.

Provenance
(1) Made in Bruges for export to England. The presence of a miniature of Saint Edmund (of Bury St Edmunds) and a calendar entry for Saint Fremund both point to an East Anglian destination for this manuscript. Fremund was a kinsman of Edmund, and both were martyred by the same band of Vikings, a connection later celebrated by John Lydgate in his Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund. A related manuscript in Cambridge University Library also has early East Anglian connections and may be the work of the same artist.

(2) An unidentified fifteenth-century English owner has inscribed the calendar page for September, where the feast of the “Exaltatio” of the Holy Cross (14 September) appears in red: “Encq’[?] on the morn affore holle ruddaye [i.e., Holy Rood Day, 14 September] / et sant Regaud evyne [i.e., and St. Rigaud’s eve(?)]” (f. 5, lower margin).

(3) This manuscript was still in England at the time of the Reformation, perhaps in recusant hands. This possibility is suggested by the curious treatment of the book’s contents: references to the pope have been erased from the calendar and the Canon of the Mass (f. 115), indicating that the manuscript was in England and subject to Henry VIII’s decrees, yet the miniature of Becket, the prayers addressed to him, and his entries in the calendar all remain intact.

(4) Offered by J. J. Leighton in 1915; item 151 in his Catalogue of Manuscripts, Mostly Illuminated, Many in Fine Bindings, London, 1915 (with plates on pp. 166–167).

(5) Belonged to Lt.-Col. William Edward Moss (1875–1953) of the Manor House, Sonning-on-Thames; sold in his sale at Sotheby’s, 5 March 1937, lot 834.

(6) Bought in the 1937 sale by Maggs for Major Sir Alan Lubbock (1897–1990); Lubbock’s armorial bookplate and pencil inscription with two comparanda, “Westminster Abbey Lib. f. 47 (Liber Regalis) / & Trin. Coll. (Cant.) MS B.II.7, f. 20,” on the back pastedown.

Text
ff. 1–6v, Calendar with entries including Julian (4 March), Walric (1 April), and Peter Martyr (29 April); ff. 8–18v (f. 7 blank; f. 7v miniature), Long Hours of the Sorrow of the Virgin, with a rubric detailing an indulgence of forty years granted by Pope John XXII, Hec sunt hore de dolore beate Marie virginis quas composuit dominus Iohannes papa vicesimus secundus...; ff. 20–43 (f. 19 blank; f. 19v miniature), memoriae to the Trinity (f. 20), the Holy Face (f. 22), Saint Thomas Becket (f. 24), the Arma Christi (f. 26), Saint Edmund (f. 26), Saint George (f. 30), and Saint Anne (f. 32), a prayer on the names of the Virgin Mary (f. 32v), and memoriae to Saint Mary Magdalene (f. 34), Saint John the Evangelist (f. 35), Saint John the Baptist (f. 37), Saint Christopher (f. 39), Saint Catherine (f. 41), and Saint Margaret (f. 43); ff. 45–67v (ff. 43v–44 blank; f. 44v miniature), Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (f. 45), Lauds (f. 49), Prime (f. 52v), Terce (f. 54v), Sext (f. 56), None (f. 57v), Vespers (f. 58v), and Compline (f. 60), with memoriae (ff. 49–52v) after Lauds to the Virgin, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Cross, Michael, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, Andrew, Stephen, Laurence, Thomas Becket, Nicholas, Mary Magdalene, Catherine, Margaret, All Saints, for Peace, and the Cross, with the Short Hours of the Cross intermixed; ff. 69–72v (ff. 67v–68 blank; f. 68v miniature), Salve regina; ff. 72v–73v, O intemerata (with masculine forms); ff. 73v–75v, Obsecro te (with masculine forms); ff. 75v–77v, Seven Joys of the Virgin, with a rubric detailing an indulgence of one hundred days granted by Pope Clement (with masculine forms); ff. 77v–79, Ave mundi spes Maria; ff. 81–83 (ff. 79v–80 blank; f. 80v miniature), Devotion to the Crucifixion in the form of prayers to an image of the Crucifix, the wood of the Cross, Christ’s head and Crown of Thorns, each of Christ’s Five Wounds, and the Virgin Mary, followed by versicles and a collect; ff. 83–84, Prayer of Bede on the Seven Last Words; ff. 84–86, prayers including Precor te piissime domine Ihesu Christe, Ave domine Ihesu Christe, verbum patris, Ave verum corpus domini nostril Ihesu Christi, Anima Christi me, corpus Christi salva me, Ave caro Cristi [sic] cara, immolate crucis ara, and Domine Ihesu Christe qui hanc sacratissimam carnem tuam, the last with a rubric detailing an indulgence of two thousand years granted by Pope Boniface; ff. 88–93 (ff. 86v–87 blank; f. 87v miniature), Seven Penitential Psalms; ff. 93v–95, Litany; ff. 95v–97v, added prayers including Pietate tua quesumus domine nostrorum solve vincula delictorum and Omnipotens et misericors Deus clementiam tuam suppliciter deprecor; ff. 99–112v (f. 98 blank with later notes; f. 98v miniature), Office of the Dead; ff. 113–116v, Commendation of Souls, ending imperfectly at Psalm 118:126 (“...dissipaverunt leg[em]”); ff. 116–124v, added fragment of an English noted Missal, with the end of musical settings of the Sanctus, the Canon of the Mass, the Mass for Easter Day, and part of the Mass for Easter Monday, ending imperfectly in the communion Surrexit dominus.

Illumination
This richly illuminated Book of Hours survives as a very fine example of Pre-Eyckian manuscript illumination by the so-called Pink Canopies Group, a rare subgroup whose known oeuvre comprises only eight codices, including four now in public collections. Among the finest works associated with the group, the present manuscript was considered “lost” after 1937. Its bold, expressive figures, set beneath distinctive pink architectural canopies, are rendered with the subtle plasticity characteristic of Pre-Eyckian realism and placed against richly decorative backgrounds. Panel paintings from this formative period are exceptionally rare: only around thirty works from the decade preceding Jan van Eyck (1395–1441) have recently been traced, all preserved in museum collections. Manuscript illumination, therefore, greatly expands our understanding of Pre-Eyckian art, and examples such as the present volume preserve these innovations in exceptionally fresh condition.

The first eighteen of the nineteen miniatures, all painted on inserted leaves, were executed by an artist associated with this group, perhaps working in Bruges or perhaps in England. Recent examinations by Lucy Freeman Sandler and Kathryn Smith suggest that the entire manuscript was written in Britain. This raises the possibility that the miniatures were imported from the Continent and inserted into an English manuscript, or alternatively that the Pink Canopies illuminator himself was active in England. Characteristic features include gold and black patterned backgrounds, repetitive motifs used on floors and other surfaces, expressive figures whose flesh is often modeled over a greenish underlayer, and luxuriantly folded draperies. The artist of the present manuscript is notable for especially voluminous drapery forms and distinctive scalloped halos. His miniatures create a remarkable contrast between flat, two-dimensional floors and backgrounds and wonderfully modeled, fleshy, voluminous figures with a high degree of individuality and expressive facial types. Pre-Eyckian realism can be observed in many small details: in the Pietà, the Virgin’s raised little finger, the way Christ’s hair hangs vertically and one limp leg falls beneath the other; on the Veil of Veronica, the subtle modelling of Christ’s face in pale green, white, and pink; in the Martyrdom of Saint Edmund, the deliberately brutish face of one of the archers; and in the tender gaze of Saint Anne toward her daughter and grandson, to name only a few examples. 

A particularly interesting miniature and fortunate survival is the depiction of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Not only is the miniature rich in biographical detail (eyewitness accounts relate, for example, how his mitre was knocked from his head onto the floor), but miniatures and texts relating to Becket were frequently defaced following Henry VIII’s decree of 1538 (see Eamon Duffy, Marking the Hours, New Haven, 2006, pl. 106, which illustrates an equivalent miniature, possibly by the same illuminator, though severely defaced; and pls. 14, 15, 53, and 54 for related manuscripts).

The added English full-page miniature is equally expressive, especially in John’s furrowed brow and the unusual manner in which he and the Virgin each interlace their fingers. The tall, elongated figures have affinities with those in a Crucifixion in Oxford, Oriel College, MS 75 (see Kathleen Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390–1490, London, 1996, ill. 159), while John similarly interlaces his fingers in a somewhat later Crucifixion in London, Guildhall, Muniment Room MS 515 (see Scott, 1996, ill. 190; and the color plate in Richard Marks and Paul Williamson, Gothic: Art for England 1400–1547, exhibition catalogue, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2003, p. 417). The latter manuscript appears to have been illuminated in East Anglia, perhaps Norwich. The production of the present manuscript for an English owner, its presence in England from the time of its origin, and the later addition of English text and illumination testify to the close artistic relationship between Bruges and England, stimulated in part by the wool trade.

The subjects of the nineteen full-page miniatures are as follows: f. 7v, Pietà, with the Virgin seated before the Cross with the naked body of Christ lying across her lap; f. 19v, Throne of Mercy, with God the Father enthroned and holding the crucified Christ before him; f. 21v, Sudarium, with two angels holding aloft the Veil of Veronica, imprinted with the face of Christ; f. 23v, Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket, with Becket kneeling in prayer before an altar with an open book (with words and musical notation legible) and a chalice, his mitre knocked to the ground, as the knight FitzUrse (identifiable by the two bears on his shield) strikes Thomas on the head with a sword and a second knight prepares to strike; f. 25v, Christ as the Man of Sorrows, shown half-length and surrounded by the Instruments of the Passion; f. 27v, Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon; f. 29v, Saint Edmund tied to a pillar and pierced by arrows, with a repeated pattern in the background including the letters “vro” (perhaps a mistake for “oro,” meaning “I pray”); f. 31v, Virgin and Child seated on the lap of Saint Anne; f. 33v, Saint Mary Magdalene holding her ointment jar and a palm of martyrdom, with a repeated pattern in the background incorporating her initial “m”; f. 36v, Saint John the Baptist holding a very small Agnus Dei on a book; f. 38v, Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child across a river; f. 40v, Saint Catherine holding a sword and wheel, with the hem of her cloak inscribed “Gloria in excelsis deo / omnipotens / mater dei / S. Katerina”; f. 42v, Saint Margaret emerging unscathed from the belly of the dragon; f. 44v, Annunciation, with the kneeling Gabriel holding a scroll inscribed “Ave gratia plena dominus tecum” before the standing Virgin; f. 68v, seated Virgin holding the Christ Child, her robe embroidered repeatedly with the name of Jesus (“ihe” [sic]); f. 80v, Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John; f. 87v, Last Judgment, with Christ seated on a rainbow and displaying his wounds, with a sword on either side of his mouth and three souls emerging from graves below; f. 98v, Funeral Service, with two lighted tapers before a bier covered by a pall embroidered repeatedly with the formulation “:ali:” and with two priests, one holding an open book inscribed with music and the names of the Evangelists: “Mateu[m] / S. Lucam / [Ioh]anem / [Mar]cam” [sic]; f. 117v, Crucifixion, with Christ and the Cross against a gold background and with Mary and Saint John standing on daisy-strewn grass against backgrounds of pink and green respectively, each patterned in gold.

LITERATURE
Published: Maurits Smeyers, ed., Naer natueren ghelike: Vlaamse miniaturen voor Van Eyck (ca. 1350–ca. 1420), Leuven, 1993, pp. 90–91 (with a full-page color plate of the Becket miniature); Susie Vertongen, “Herman Scheerre, the Beaufort Master and Flemish Miniature Painting: A Reopened Debate,” in Flanders in a European Perspective: Manuscript Painting around 1400 in Flanders and Abroad: Proceedings of the International Colloquium, Leuven, 7–10 September 1993, Leuven, 1995, pp. 251–265 (see p. 255 and fig. 2, a full-page reproduction of the Saint Catherine miniature, erroneously identified as f. 40v); Sandra Hindman et al., Illuminations in the Robert Lehman Collection, New York, 1997, pp. 53–60; Maurits Smeyers, Flemish Miniatures from the 8th to the Mid-16th Century, Turnhout, 1999, pp. 203–204. Related literature: Kathryn M. Rudy, Piety in Pieces: How Medieval Readers Customized their Manuscripts, Cambridge, 2016, pp. 15–57.

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