Book of Hours

Made for use in the diocese of Cambrai ca. 1450-60, this Book of Hours is extraordinary for its lavish illumination. It was likely produced by several artists within the circle of Willlem Vrelant, and the wealth of texts and images recall the richness of manuscripts by Vrelant from the same era, such as the Hours of Isabel la Católica (Biblioteca del Palacio Real, Madrid, Arm. Inf. 61) completed in Bruges ca. 1455.

Provenance

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

Created for unidentified patron, Bruges, ca. 1450-1460 [1]. D. Fray Pedro de la Torre, Spain (?), before 1555 [2]; acquired by Don Saturnino Segurola, Buenos Aires, Argentina [3]; period of unknown ownership and location [4]; acquired by Don Saturnino Segurola, Buenos Aires, Argentina, ca. 1800 [5]. Acquired by William Bragge, Britain; Sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, June 10 1876, no. 487; purchased by Thibaudeau, London (?), 1876. Sotheby's Sale, London, May 6 1909, lot 10; purchased by McFarlane, London (?), 1909. Acquired by Léon Gruel, Paris [6]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

[1] Patron depicted before St. Bernardinus on fol. 334v, perhaps also with his family at mass and funeral service on fols. 82v and 267v
[2] Pedro de la Torre was the first Bishop sent to the River Plata by Spain, see D. Pedro de Angelis, "Documentos sobre el Rio de la Plata" vol. I, p. 106
[3] According to Segurola, the manuscript passed to him through successive bishops; inscription on fol. 1r with his name and date along with "posuitque Dominus Cain signum ut non interficeret eum omnis qui invenisset eum. Gen. lib. 1 cap. 4"
[4] The manuscript was lost during the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas
[5] Recovered by Segurola in Lima, Peru for 30 gold ounces
[6] His bookplate on front pastedown inscribed "N. 965"