Book of Hours

Description This Book of Hours was completed for the use in Rouen in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. The original female owner is depicted in a donor portrait kneeling at the right of Pietà on the last illuminated page of the book (fol. 114r). Marked prominence is given to this female worshiper as her scale exceeds that of the Virgin as well as Sts. John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene. The Pentecost miniature on fol. 74r exemplifies the current interest in replacing the traditional central perspective with a diagonally conceived composition. This off-center orientation highlighting St. Peter rather than the Virgin was a popular topos in contemporary Rouen Hours.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/07/1977	Examination	examined for condition
10/07/2015	Treatment	examined for digitization; examined for exhibition; media consolidation; stabilized

Exhibitions

• Making Music in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988-1989.
• Plants and Flowers in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1991.
• 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 Unidentified female owner, Rouen, France, ca. 1480-1490 (?) [1]. Maucourt, Montigny, 1725 [2]. Leo S. Olschki, Florence, late 19-early 20th century [3]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] Depicted on fol. 114r, likely first owner [2] Fol. 124v: MAVCOVRT / 1725 / amontigny [3] Inscribed on front flyleaf i, v: 'x' and '566'; note below by Olschki concerning decoration; date penciled over partly erased earlier notation

Inscriptions [Inscription] On spine in gold: UFFIZIO / FRANCESE / MINIATO

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters