Book of Hours

Description This Book of Hours was created in northeastern France in the early fourteenth century, possibly for the marriage of Louis I of Châtillon (d. 1346) and Jeanne of Hainaut, as the Châtillon de Blois arms are depicted on fols. 19r and 81v, and the arms of Hainaut also appear in the borders, including in conjunction with the Châtillon arms on fol. 19r. The manuscript is exceptional for the abundance of drolleries and lively hybrids that inhabit nearly every page. Stylistically these images have been linked to a workshop in the Artois region, possibly based in Arras, and related manuscripts were traced by Carl Nordenfalk in his 1979 publication. Although the manuscript is incomplete, lacking its calendar and likely some images, its surviving illumination provides an excellent example of the playfulness of art during this period.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
4/15/1982	Treatment	stabilized

Exhibitions

• Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984-1985.
• Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988.
• Making Music in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988-1989.
• Art in the Book:The Vision of Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture in Illuminated Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1989.
• Manuscript Sleuthing: Discoveries of a Curator. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995.
• Medieval Games of Love and War. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995-1996.
• Daily Life in Medieval Books. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996.
• Images of Devotion: Personal Piety in Medieval Manuscripts and Ivories. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1997.
• Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1999-2000.
• Medieval Mastery, Book Illumination from Charlemagne to Charles the Bold (Meesterlijke Middeleeuwen). Stedelijik Museum Vander Kelen-Mertens, Leuven. 2002.
• Checkmate! Medieval People at Play. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2010.
• Living by the Book: Monks, Nuns, and Their Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2013.
• A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota. 2016-2017.

Provenance Purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore [1]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] Created in early fourteenth century for Use of Arras and Paris, possibly for the marriage of Louis I of Châtillon (d. 1346) and Jeanne of Hainaut, as the Châtillon de Blois arms are depicted on fols. 19r and 81v, and the arms of Hainaut also appear in the borders, including in conjunction with the Châtillon arms on fol. 19r. The manuscript contains other unidentified heraldry, such as a bookplate and inscriptions.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, after 1894