A unique Parisian Renaissance prayerbook attributed to the circle of Étienne Colaud, distinguished by its unusual collection of devotional, protective, and amuletic prayers.

98 x 73 mm. v (paper and parchment) + 86 + ii (paper) leaves, complete, collation: i-x⁸, xi⁶, unfoliated, 13 lines written in a late Gothic bookhand, faintly ruled in red ink, text block enclosed within a gold frame outlined in red, justification: 84 x 54 mm, rubrics in red, one- and two-line initials in gold on alternating blue and red grounds heightened with gold filigree, 10 six-line miniatures within simple gold frames. (Second quire partially loose from the text block, rubbing, thumbing, and general abrasions to the leaves, significant wear to the first miniature with losses to pigments, and light rubbing to the others.) Eighteenth-century brown calf over pasteboards, the covers ruled with a double blind fillet, spine with four raised bands, compartments ruled in gilt and decorated with repeated gilt floral tools and small circular ornaments (binding rubbed and scuffed, with wear to the joints, spine ends, and corners; traveling case with extensive surface abrasion and losses to the leather, splitting and losses at the extremities and corners, and fraying to the lining); with a fitted brown leather traveling case in two telescoping sections over pasteboard, the covers simply ruled in blind and the interior lined with cream paper densely spattered in red.

Provenance:

1) Front flyleaf with sixteenth-century inscription in a cursive hand including the name Joannis, partly erased and difficult to decipher.

2) Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742–1811), his bookplate with motto Quod Potui Perfeci on front pastedown.

3) Bookplate with ornate, white-on-black metalcut initial capital letter ‘G’ featuring a swirling floral and leaf pattern against a dark background, pasted onto first flyleaf. (4) Private American Collection.

Contents: Gospel Sequences: ff. 1-3v, John; ff. 3v-5v, Luke; ff. 6-8, Matthew; ff. 8v-9v, Mark; ff. 9v-12, Prayers to Christ and for the Dead; Suffrages: ff. 12v-13, Saint Anselm; ff. 13v-17, the Holy Trinity; ff. 17-18v, the Holy Face (Veronica); f. 19, Saint James; ff. 20-21, Saint Stephen; f. 21, Saint Lawrence; f. 22, Saint John the Evangelist; ff. 22v-23v, Saint Christopher; f. 24, Salutations to the Virgin; ff. 25v-27, Prayers to God and the Holy Angels; ff. 27-31, Prayers to the Holy Name and the Sacrifice of Christ; Further Suffrages: f. 31, Saint Charlemagne; f. 31v, Saint Anne; ff. 32v-33, the Two Sisters of the Virgin; ff. 33v-34, the Holy Cross; Occasional Prayers: f. 34, for peace; f. 34v, for grace; f. 35, for voyages; f. 35v, for deceased parents; f. 36, for a deceased friend; Further Suffrages: ff. 36v-37v, the Fourteen Holy Helpers; ff. 37v-44, Five Prayers to the Virgin attributed to Saint John; f. 44, Prayer for Beginning a Task; ff. 44v-48, Prayers to the Virgin; f. 48, the Seventy-Two Names of the Virgin (added in a contemporary sixteenth-century hand); Amuletic and Protective Prayers: ff. 49-52, Prayer of Pope Leo for Charlemagne, with the Seventy-Two Names of Christ; ff. 52v-54, Protective Benediction; ff. 54v–56v, Names of Christ continued; ff. 57-58, Verses of Saint Bernard; f. 58, Prayer of Hezekiah; f. 58v, Indulgenced Prayer to the Secret Name of Christ; ff. 58v-62v, Marian Protective Prayer from the Sepulcher of the Virgin (in French); ff. 62v-67v, Rhymed Meditation on the Life and Passion of Christ (in French); ff. 67v-69, Gospel according to John (John 1:1-14); ff. 69-82, Sequence of Protective Prayers to Christ and the Holy Name; ff. 82–86v, Prayers for Protection and a Good Death.

Illumination: The ten small miniatures in this charming and unusually compact prayerbook are characteristic of the flourishing Parisian school of manuscript illumination in the early decades of the sixteenth century and may be associated with the circle of Étienne Colaud (or Collault, documented 1512–1541), one of the leading illuminators and entrepreneurs active in the French capital during the reign of François I. Colaud presided over a productive and closely interconnected group of artists responsible for illuminating devotional, historical, and literary manuscripts for an affluent clientele that included members of the French court. As Myra Orth has observed, the artists associated with Colaud frequently worked in collaboration, adopting shared compositional models and exhibiting varying degrees of stylistic individuality. Their production reflects the persistence of late Gothic conventions alongside the increasingly pronounced influence of Renaissance painting and printed imagery. The present manuscript, with its diminutive format, restrained decorative program, and series of small miniatures enclosed within simple gold frames, belongs to this tradition of intimate devotional books produced for private use in Paris during the first decades of the sixteenth century.

The manuscript is particularly noteworthy for its unusual selection of devotional texts, which depart from the conventional organization of a Book of Hours. Rather than accompanying the customary Hours of the Virgin, its miniatures embellish a highly individualized collection of Gospel extracts, suffrages, Marian devotions, and prayers invoking divine protection, including texts associated with the Holy Name, the Seventy-Two Names of Christ, and the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The combination of these devotional and apotropaic texts reflects the continuing popularity of personalized prayerbooks in early sixteenth-century France, even as printed books of hours increasingly displaced their manuscript counterparts. Its association with the Colaud group places it within the last great generation of Parisian manuscript illuminators, whose workshops successfully adapted established medieval traditions to the changing artistic and devotional culture of Renaissance France.

We thank Peter Bovenmyer for his consultation on this entry.