Book of Hours

This Book of Hours from ca. 1480 was possibly made in Tournai. The manuscript passed through the hands of several women, and while the first owner was anonymous, the text and imagery reveals she had Franciscan sympathies. An eighteenth-century inscription at the front of the manuscript suggests it was presented to Philippa of Guelders (ca. 1480-1562) by Pope Leo X upon her ordination at the Franciscan convent of Sainte-Clare in Pont-a-Mousson in 1520. The quality of the miniatures suggests that the artist was a novice, yet his expressive individual style and unusual marginalia, in which figures and animals hold scrolls inscribed with French phrases, provide the manuscript with considerable charm.

Provenance

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

Philippa of Guelders [ca. 1480-1562], France, 1520 [1]. Acquired by Nicolas-Joseph Bauchon, France, 1796 [2]. Leo S. Olschki, Florence, ca. 1900 [3]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, ca. 1912 [4]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

[1] 18th century inscription claims that Pope Leo X presented this book to Philippa of Guelders upon entrance into the Franciscan convent of Ste. -Clare in Pont-a-Mousson.
[2] Decorated medallion on fol. 3r records the event.
[3] His inventory number "79/32942" on fol. 1r.
[4] No. 79 on shipping list in Walters Archives.