Book of Hours

Description This large Book of Hours was created ca. 1440-50 in Bruges by the Masters of the Gold Scrolls. The original female patron was especially devoted to Franciscan and French saints, as evinced by the content of the calendar, litany, and suffrages. Although six images have been lost, the remaining seventeen miniatures and eight historiated initials are fine representations of the later work of the Gold Scrolls artists working in Bruges through ca. 1450.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/27/2014	Treatment	examined for digitization; media consolidation; splits mended

Exhibitions

• God's Minstrel: St. Francis of Assisi. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1982.
• Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988.
• The Book and the Author: Portraits of the Evangelists in Eastern and Western Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1990-1991.
• From Pen to Press: Experimentation and Innovation in the Age of Print. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2015.

Provenance Jean-Baptiste Verdussen, Anvers, mid 18th century [1]; Verdussen Sale, July 1776, no. 30; purchased by Van Merlen, Anvers, 1776 [2]. Unknown owner, France, 19th century [3]. Count Alfred Werlé, Rheims, late 19th-early 20th century [4]; Werlé Sale, Paris, February 5 1908, no. 6. Purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] His bookplates (the design of which also served as his printer's device) on both front and back pastedowns, inscribed "TUTISSIMA VIRTUS PIETAS HOMINI" [2] Recorded in Oxford copy of catalog in manuscript after p. 18 [3] "No. 28" on front flyleaf recto and contents list on front flyleaf verso [4] His bookplate with monogram and "No. 1776" on front pastedown

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters