Manuscripts – Book of Hours - Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG

DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
A DELUXE BOOK OF HOURS FROM THE EASTERN NETHERLANDS
Book of Hours, in Dutch, use of Utrecht
Manuscript on vellum, illuminated by the Masters of the Zwolle Bible and the Masters
of Margriet Uutenham
Netherlands, Arnhem and Zwolle, c. 1470
133 x 99 mm. i paper + 224 leaves + iii paper: 15(of 8 lacking i and ii, cancelled blanks, and iv), 28,
39(of 8 + ii, i unruled replacement for cancelled blank), 4-58, 69(of 8 + viii), 78, 89(of 8 + ii), 99(of 8 +
viii), 109(of 8 + vii), 11-128, 139(of 8 + viii), 148, 159(of 8 + viii), 168(originally 9, of 8 + vii, lacking
viii), 1710(of 8 + iii and viii), 18-248, 259 (of 8 + vi), 2610(of 8 + iv and viii), 277(of 6 + i). – Written
space 74 x 52 mm, ruled in grey for 15 lines. Written in dark brown ink in a gothic bookhand, rubrics
in red with a few in blue and burnished gold, text capitals touched red. – One-line initials in blue or
burnished gold, two-line initials in blue flourished with red or in burnished gold flourished with
purple, the flourishing extending into much of side margin, 24 very large initials with staves of
burnished gold or coloured foliage on contrasting gold or coloured grounds with borders or bars to all
or three margins of sprays of flowers and leaves in burnished gold and colours on feathery stems in
brown or gold, most with bars of burnished gold, some linking large flower motifs, 14 rectangular or
arch-topped full-page miniatures in burnished gold frames with full borders of acanthus and
flower sprays between hairline tendrils with burnished gold leaves and small coloured flowers. –
Lacking two leaves and probably seven inserted single leaves with miniatures, three of the inserted
miniatures in the Office of the Virgin probably not in original position. Slight wear to some leaves,
some offsetting, trimmed into border fol. 220v. – 19th-century blind-stamped black morocco, gilt
edges. Slightly rubbed. Red morocco solander box gilt.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
PROVENANCE
1. The pen flourishing and striking style of the illuminated text pages show that the
manuscript was written and decorated in Arnhem, probably by the nuns of the convent of
Bethany. There was no miniaturist among them so that many of their books were
illustrated by paste-in prints. This volume is far more luxurious, since it has inserted
miniatures and their borders by the Masters of the Zwolle Bible, active in Zwolle, who
decorated books for Utrecht and elsewhere.
The first owner was female, as
shown by the form of ‘sinner’ in
the prayer on fol. 208v “mi arme
sundersche”. The Hours of the
Virgin vary slightly from the use
of Utrecht as translated by Geert
Grote but the calendar is
significantly different with major
feasts in red of the diocese of
Cologne: St Pantaleon (28 July),
Victor (10 October), 11.000
Virgins (21 October), Severinus
(23 October), Cunibert (12
November). A patron to the
south towards Cologne might be
part of the explanation for the
book’s presence in Nuremberg in
the early 19th century. There are
offsets and stitching holes on the
first leaf from pilgrim badges.
2. Robert Hale Blagden Hale of
Alderley, Gloucestershire (17801855). Signature on first endleaf:
‘R.H.B. Hale, Nuremberg 1823’.
3. Edouard
Sandoz.
Armorial
bookplate inside upper cover,
probably by the artist Edouard
Marcel Sandoz (1881-1971), for
himself or possibly his father, Edouard Sandoz (1853-1928). It is unclear whether
Sandoz’s ownership pre- or post-dated 1931.
4. Quaritch, Catalogue of Illuminated and Other Manuscripts, 1931, no. 59; pencil marks on
first endleaf.
5. Sotheby’s, London, 21 June 1988, lot 103.
6. Private Collection.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
info@guenther-rarebooks.com · www.guenther-rarebooks.com
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
TEXT
fol. 1
fol. 2-12v
fol. 16-79v
fol. 81-99
fol. 99-104v
fol. 106-149v
fol. 151-203
fol. 205-220
Ruled blank
Calendar (lacking leaf for January)
ruled blank fol. 13; unruled blank fol. 14
Office of the Virgin, in the Dutch translation of Geert Grote, with a few
variants: Matins fol. 16, Lauds fol. 28, Prime fol. 41, Terce fol. 47, Sext (with
incorrect rubric for vespers) fol. 52, None fol. 58, Vespers fol. 62, Compline
fol. 73
Penitential Psalms
Litany
Long Hours of the Cross
Office of the Dead, use of Utrecht
Suffrages to Saints: St Erasmus fol. 205, St Christopher fol. 208, the Three
Kings fol. 212, St Cornelius fol. 216, St Hubert fol. 219; prayer to the Virgin,
Sancta maria een ioncfrouwe boven allen, fol. 220v-224v
ILLUMINATION
This finely crafted volume is indeed part of ‘The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting’,
since it brings together two of the most gifted workshops in the northern Netherlands in the
second half of the 15th century: the Masters of the Zwolle Bible, responsible for the miniatures
with their refined piety, and the Masters of Margriet Uutenham, who provided the richly
gilded decoration and inventive patterning of the text pages. As an outstanding example of
their work, the manuscript formed part of the exhibition of that name in Utrecht and New
York in 1989-90.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
info@guenther-rarebooks.com · www.guenther-rarebooks.com
DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
The Masters of Margriet Uutenham, named from Margriet’s Book of Hours, should be
renamed the Mistresses if they are correctly identified with the Augustinian Canonesses of
Bethany, whose activity as scribes is documented from 1451; the style of Margriet’s Hours
flourished c. 1460-80 (see also Genie ohne Namen; Weekes).
The Masters of the Zwolle Bible were named from the Bible for St Mary’s Church in Utrecht,
written between 1462 and 1476 by one of the Brethren of the Common Life in Zwolle. These
Brothers are also known to have provided illumination for many books of hours.
Bethany in Arnhem belonged to the Windesheim Congregation, the formalised conventual
proponents of the Devotio moderna followed by the Brethren, which stressed the humanity of
Christ. Both forms of community supported themselves, often by book production, and
avoided ostentation while believing that beautiful adjuncts to worship honoured God. The
present manuscript is an eloquent embodiment of their ethos: the restrained colours and
uncluttered settings of the miniatures, structured around firm verticals, focus attention on the
figures and their interactions, while
the more assertively lavish borders
proclaim the book’s significance.
Both groups drew on prints for
motifs, figures or compositions. The
Presentation and the Flight into
Egypt (fol. 57v, 72v), for example,
come from the blockbook Biblia
pauperum, while both Zwolle and
Uutenham Masters used engravings
by Master E.S. and Israel van
Meckenem; no source has yet been
suggested
for
the
striking
columbines, fol. 63 (see Budde and
Krischel; Weekes).
Women painters are known to have
been
active
throughout
the
Netherlands but their work can
seldom be identified. The Sisters of
Bethany seem to have evolved a
very distinctive style that matched
in accomplishment the expressive
miniatures of the Brethren in
Zwolle.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
info@guenther-rarebooks.com · www.guenther-rarebooks.com
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
fol. 15v
The Visitation
fol. 46v
The Nativity
fol. 57v
The Flight into Egypt
fol. 72v
The Presentation in the Temple
fol. 80v
The Last Judgement
fol. 105v
The Agony in the Garden
fol. 123v
The Betrayal and Arrest of Christ
fol. 131v
The Mocking of Christ
fol. 135v
The Flagellation
fol. 140v
The Crucifixion
fol. 204v
The Martyrdom of St Erasmus
fol. 211v
The Adoration of the Magi
fol. 215v
St Cornelius
fol. 218v
St Hubert
The large initials with illuminated borders are on fol. 16, 28, 41, 47, 52, 58, 63, 73, 81, 99,
106, 117v, 124, 127, 136, 141, 146, 151, 205, 208, 212, 216, 219, 220v
LITERATURE
H.L.M. Defoer, A.S. Korteweg,
W.C.M. Wüstefeld, The Golden Age of
Dutch Manuscript Painting, exh. cat.
Utrecht and New York, Stuttgart 1989,
no 88, pl. 88, fig. 141.
R. Budde, R. Krischel (eds.), Genie
ohne Namen, der Meister des
Bartholomäus-Altars, exh. cat. WallrafRichartz Museum, Cologne, 2001, pp.
268-269, no. 8.
R. Budde, R. Krischel (eds.), Das
Stundenbuch der Sophia van Bylant,
Cologne 2001, pp. 183, 185, 198, pp.
205-207.
U. Weekes, Early Engravers and their
Public. The Master of the Berlin
Passion
and
Manuscripts
from
Convents in the Rhine-Maas Region, ca.
1450–1500, Turnhout 2004, p. 148.
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
info@guenther-rarebooks.com · www.guenther-rarebooks.com