Book of Hours

Book of Hours

German, 1462

Language: Latin

height 8 cm
width 6 cm

384 leaves (8.0 x 6.0 cm). Gothic script with batard elements. 21 lines. Gatherings mostly of 10. Text in Latin: Breviary with Calendar and tables for finding the date of Easter. Many decorated acanthus initials and borders with gold interlace. Binding: vellum

Provenance: London dealer, 1943 (enclosed letter)

Mount Angel Abbey Library, Ms. 13

Parshall, Peter. Illuminated Manuscripts from Portland Area Collections. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1978, p. 24 - Quoted with permission

The initials and borders of this tiny manuscript are executed with exceptional refinement in brilliant colors with a lavish application of gold leaf. The acanthus leaves, blossoms, and pistil forms are modeled with touches of white highlighting to give them a strong, plastic dimension. The bold sculptural approach to the decoration and the delicate interlace patterns in gold are typical of works produced in the eastern Netherlands and Middle Rhine region, especially around Cologne, during the second half of the fifteenth century. Close parallels are found among manuscripts associated with the workshop of Stephan Lochner, the famous painter of devotional panels active in Cologne from the 1430s to 1450s. The Breviary can be dated with reasonable certainty on the basis of the calendar table of dominical numbers used to establish the dates for Easter beginning in the year 1462.