Book of Hours

Description This Book of Hours was produced in the early fourteenth century in northeast France. The contents of the calendar suggest a Use of Saint-Omer, which was in the diocese of Thérouanne. The presence of a female figure kneeling in prayer accompanying the Pentecost suggests that the manuscript was made for a female owner. The calendar contains marginal illumination with the labors of the months and the zodiac symbols. There are seven full-page miniatures depicting scenes from the book of Genesis, unusually contained within architectural settings. Twenty-four historiated initials, initials decorated with human heads, and an abundance of marginal figures makes this manuscript exceptionally charming.

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.
• Plants and Flowers in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1991.
• Daily Life in Medieval Books. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996.
• Medieval Mastery, Book Illumination from Charlemagne to Charles the Bold (Meesterlijke Middeleeuwen). Stedelijik Museum Vander Kelen-Mertens, Leuven. 2002.
• Beasts on Parchment: Picturing Animals in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2010-2011.
• Seeing Music in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014.
• Animal Tales. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2019.

Provenance Unknown Spanish owner (?) [1], 17th century. Unknown owner with monogram "J. L.", France (?), 2nd half 19th century [2]. Acquired by Lionel Harris, London, late 19th-early 20 century; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] Inscription on back flyleaf: "252 fojas escritas" [2] Monogram added to the cover after rebinding

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911