Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot - photo 1
Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot - photo 2
Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot - photo 3
Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot - photo 4
Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot - photo 5
Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot - photo 6

Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot

Lot 37
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 81 900
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 794599
Lot 37 | Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot
Estimate value
£ 70 000 – 100 000
Associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot

Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Bruges or Ghent, first decades 16th century]

A rich and engaging example of Ghent-Bruges illumination at the height of the Flemish Renaissance, with iconographically unusual miniatures by an associate of the Master of Sir George Talbot.



116 x 87mm. 235 leaves, collation: 110 (of 8, i and ii inserted miniatures), 29 (of 8, ii an inserted miniature), 39 (of 8, ii an inserted miniature), 48, 59 (of 8, ii an inserted miniature), 6-178, 187 (of 8, viii a cancelled blank), 199 (of 8, i an inserted miniature), 20-218, 229 (of 8, v an inserted miniature), 23-288, 295 (of 8, lacking iv-v, viii a cancelled blank), sporadic pencil foliation, 15 lines, ruled space: 77 x 50mm., rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, one- and 2-line initials throughout, 20 small miniatures or historiated initials, including 15 three-quarter illuminated borders in the Ghent/Bruges style of naturalistic flowers and fruit scattered in trompe l'oeil designs, 7 full-page miniatures in within full borders in similar style (f.1 probably originally bound before f.136, probably lacking 2 text leaves after f.233 and perhaps a Calendar at the beginning, else complete, some minor marginal cropping, occasional stains and signs of use). Early 18th-century red morocco gilt. In a fitted brown morocco case, title gilt.



Provenance:

(1) The Litany includes St. Bavo (Ghent) and St Donatian (Bruges). The 1995 Sotheby’s catalogue suggests that the script is very close to the hand of the Dominican scribe Johann de Bomalia, who is recorded as a member of the Bruges illuminator's guild of SS. John and Luke in 1489, signing manuscripts such as Meermanno-Westreenianum MS. 10.E.3, illuminated by Simon Bening; the Hours of James IV of Scotland and his wife Margaret Tudor: now Vienna, ÖNB, cod. lat. 1897; and a Book of Hours sold at Christie’s, 6 June 2007, lot 40 (see W.H.J. Weale, 'Documents inédits sur les enlumineurs de Bruges', Le Beffroi, IV, 1872-3, pp.318, 322, 329 and 332.)

(2) Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, New York, 7 March 1967, lot 122.

(3) Paul Francis Webster (1907-1984): his bookplate; his sale at Sotheby’s New York, 24 April 1985, lot 103.

(4) Sotheby’s 5 December 1995, lot 55.



Content:

Hours of the Cross ff.3-11; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.13-20; Mass of the Virgin ff.22-29v; Gospel Sequences ff.30-37; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.39-135: matins f.39, lauds f.62, prime f.77, terce f.84, sext f.91, none f.97, vespers f.103, compline f.113; Advent office and other seasonal variants f.122; Hymn to the Virgin based on the ‘Salve regina’, with rubric ‘Has videas laudes / qui sacra virgine gaudes […]', and beginning ‘Salue virgo virginum stella matutina’ ff.135v-145; a prayer for use during the Elevation of the Host with an offer of 2000 years’ indulgence f.145v-148v; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.150-177; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, f.179-235v.



Illumination:

This engaging and luxuriously illuminated Book of Hours appears to be the work of a single illuminator associated with the work of the Master of Sir George Talbot, named after a Book of Hours made for the Earl of Shrewsbury around 1500 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms Gough Liturg.7). The small-featured round heads on compact and calm little figures are a constant feature of the miniatures. The palette is varied, the use of colour often inventive and striking. The borders are predominantly of 'Ghent-Bruges' types, with naturalistic strewn flowers, trompe l’oeil borders, and architectural surrounds. It is an attractive and distinctive style, and compositions and features of setting show the illuminator's familiarity with the main currents of Flemish illumination in the first decades of the 16th century – particularly the work of the Master of the Prayerbooks of c.1500, the Master of Mary of Burgundy and Alexander Bening. The dramatic Last Judgement (f.149v) draws on comparable scenes in the Hours of Mary of Burgundy in Berlin and the Hours of Engelbert of Nassau in Oxford, while the full-face portrait of Christ on f.1v comes from the repertoire of the Master of the Older Prayerbook and probably originally from a lost panel by Jan van Eyck.



The most inventive and unusual miniature in the present manuscript is the scene set in the bedroom of a man who has just died (f.178v), opening the Office of the Dead – a studied departure from the usual depictions of funerals and burials, or battles for the soul taking place in a cemetery. Here, the setting is intimate and familiar: the deceased man (perhaps a relative of the original owners of these Hours) is laid out on a mat in the foreground with the implements for washing and preparing it for burial, his slippers set to one side. Above him, a man is seated in a chair beside the bed and two women are in discussion on a bench. At the top of the miniature, a battle for the dead man’s soul ensues between an angel and a devil with webbed wings. The border include bones and skulls with the hats of a pope, a bishop, an emperor, a cardinal and a king. Comparable versions are described by B. Brinkmann, Offizium der Madonna, Der Codex Vat.Lat. 10293, Kommentarband, 1992, pp.27-32. The border, with snakes among skulls wearing the hats of rulers, all made equal by death, has an Italian parallel in the Mirandola Hours (British Library, Add. MS 50002, f.85).



The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows: Christ as Salvator Mundi f.1v; the Crucifixion f.2v; Pentecost f.12v; the Virgin and Child in the crescent moon, the Ara Coeli, f.21v; the Annunciation,f .38v; the Last Judgement f.149v; a death scene, set in the lattice-widowed bedroom of a man who has just died, f.178v.



The subjects of the smaller miniatures are as follows: the Descent from the Cross (f.3); the Ascension (f.13); the Mass of St Gregory (f.22); St John on Patmos (f.30); St Luke painting (f.32); St Matthew (f.34); St Mark (f.36); the Visitation (f.39); the Meeting at the Golden Gate (f.62); the Nativity (f.77); the Annunciation to the Shepherds (f.84); the Adoration of the Magi (f.91); the Presentation in the Temple (f.97); the Massacre of the Innocents (f.103); the Flight into Egypt (f.113); the Coronation of the Virgin (f.122); the Virgin and Child with an angel with the Cross and nails (f.136); a monstrance with the Host (f.145v); David in prayer (f.150); the Three Living and the Three Dead (f.179).





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