Cologne Psalter-Hours

This Psalter-Hours was made for a Franciscan community in Cologne, Germany, in the late thirteenth century. It is especially notable for its large program of illuminations, which includes roundels in the calendar depicting the labors of the month, two full-page miniatures, fourteen historiated initials, and grotesques perched upon the top of bar borders throughout. It is identical in style to Baltimore, Walters Ms. W.111, and both are related to the style of Liege manuscripts of the 1280s-90s. They are also considered to be stylistic precursors of works by Johannes von Valkenburg, such as two graduals he created for Franciscans in Cologne in 1299 (Cologne, Diozesan Bibliothek Ms. 1B and Bonn, Universitatsbibliothek Ms. 384).

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Made for Franciscan community, Cologne [Calendar and litany contain numerous Franciscan saints, including the Translation of St. Francis, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Clara, and the Birth of St. Francis]; Germany [rubric on fol. 257r in German]; Leon Gruel, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [no. 1128, Gruel bookplate inside upper board]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.