Item Details

AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH A MINIATURE OF BLESSED PETER OF LUXEMBOURG, FROM A BOOK OF HOURS IN LATIN.

(1450). 178 x 127 mm (7 x 5"). Single column, four lines of text on recto, 15 on verso in a pleasing gothic book hand.

Attractively matted. Verso with four one-line initials in burnished gold and colors and 11 line fillers in colors and gold; recto with a large four-line "D" in maroon and white with enclosed scrolling flowered stems, the whole on a burnished gold ground and within a baguette; the same side WITH A FULL BORDER FEATURING DENSE VEGETATION, including much acanthus and twining vines with fruit, flowering thistles, and many tiny gold disks on hairline stems, THE BORDER ENCLOSING AN ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURE OF BLESSED PETER OF LUXEMBOURG AT PRAYER, kneeling in his red cardinal's robes before a blue and gold prie-dieu and gazing up adoringly at a visionary figure (God the Father?), who hovers in an open window, radiating golden light. Parts of the text faint (but everything very legible), tiny loss in two places at inner edge of border because of trimming, blue paint faded in a portion of drapery, verso with remnants of mounting tape, a hint of wrinkling and yellowing, but an excellent leaf in most respects, the main figure in perfect condition, and the paint and gold generally bright and very well preserved.

This miniature focuses the attention of the viewer firmly on the figure of Blessed Peter of Luxembourg. His richly colored scarlet robe and hat are lavishly touched with gold, but we see that this saintly young man wears monkish black beneath his finery. The face is sensitively drawn, and the red tapestry behind him is carefully differentiated in color from the hat by a slight admixture of blue. The orphaned son of a count, Peter spent part of his childhood in England as a hostage during the Hundred Years War. When only 14, he was named bishop of Metz by the Avignon pope Clement VII, but since he was on the wrong side of the Great Schism, his appointment was not only disputed, but his armed attempt to enter his diocese was met with opposition supported by the pope in Rome. Clement, however, made him titular cardinal of San Giorgio in Velabro. Peter was known for his pious self-denial, and he died in a Carthusian monastery when only 18. Though his high ecclesiastical rank was the gift of an anti-pope, the Roman papacy later recognized his virtue, and he was beatified, ironically, by another Clement VII, the Medici pope of the early 15th century. Peter of Luxembourg is very infrequently seen in a Book of Hours. (ST11526b)