A Richly Colored Printed Book of Hours Leaf with Unusual Allegorical Iconography Showing Justice, Peace, the Church, and Mercy

TEXT INCLUDING A PRAYER TO CHRIST'S WOUNDS AND AN INTRODUCTION TO MATINS.

(VELLUM PRINTING). LEAF FROM A BOOK OF HOURS, PRINTED ON VELLUM.

(Paris: Germain and Gilles Hardouyn (?), early 16th century). 170 x 110 mm. (6 3/4 x 4 1/4"). Single column, 25 lines, roman type.

FULL-PAGE MINIATURE depicting the personified figures of Justice, Peace, the Church, and Mercy, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUMINATED IN COLORS AND GOLD BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND. Trimmed slightly close at the head (touching the border in two places on one side), a group of small chips missing in the sky on the illuminated side of the leaf (see below), but still in extremely appealing condition, the paint and gilt vibrant, and the figures all very well preserved.

Vibrantly painted and amply highlighted with brushed gold, this leaf from a printed Book of Hours includes a large and unusual miniature depicting the Church and the female personifications of the virtues of Justice, Peace, and Mercy. The elegant figures, two dressed as nuns and two as noblewomen, gracefully link arms with one another, while a serene angel in a green gown and scarlet-topped wings stands in the middle behind them. The faces and folds of cloth are delicately shaded, and the minutely detailed lines of gold carefully applied, stylistically tying this printed leaf to the fully hand-painted Books of Hours that printed versions were slowly replacing during this period. This metalcut image appears in the early 16th century Books of Hours produced by Germain and Guillaume Hardouyn (see Walters 91.614; McMaster Museum of Art 1995.045.0009), whose lavish books often made use of designs by illuminator Jean Pichore (fl. 1490-1521); the McMaster Museum attributes the present composition to him. Neither leaf exactly matches ours, with slight variations in the text beneath the image, but it is likely that our leaf may have come from another edition by this publisher. The illuminator here has chosen to simplify the background of the image, placing the women in front of blue hills broken up only by rays of golden light extending from the Trinity at the top of the composition. But if we look closely, we can see that the blue has been applied over a scene in the original metal cut featuring complex buildings (at least one of them a church), these structures partly exposed now because of small losses in the paint. The unusual iconography here is noteworthy. The dove-less Trinity--which here emphasizes the equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost by showing them as virtually identical men--is less common than images containing the white bird. And, more important, the large allegorical figures of Justice, Peace, the Church, and Mercy as seen here simply do not appear in Books of Hours with any frequency. (ST12778-0887b)

Price: $2,500.00