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Add MS 38126
- Record Id:
- 040-002057336
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002057322
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001102.0x0003b3
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 38126
- Title:
- Book of Hours, Use of Rome (The 'Huth Hours')
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
Book of Hours, Use of Rome, with prayers added in the 16th or 17th century. At the beginning are: 'Oraison a son bon angle' and 'Oraison de sainet Louys' in Latin, and prayers to Christ and the Virgin and 'Meditations sainet Augustin' in French (ff. i-ii, 1) ; and at the end are prayers in French, to be recited by a woman ('pecheresse je suy'), including an invocation of St. Anne, described in a slightly more recent hand in Italian as 'Orazioni di una deuota, la quale possedè il presente libro' (ff. 252v).
Decoration:
24 bas-de-page roundels in the calendar (ff. 1v-13v, with inscriptions including the initials MY and YM as part of the decorated border on f. 12r); 24 full-pages miniatures (ff. 14v, 39v, 45v, 66v, 75v, 79v, 83v, 87v, 91v, 97v, 102v, 109v, 125v, 133v, 137v, 139v, 143v, 145v, 146v, 148v, 150v, 209v, 227v, and 140v) and 50 small miniatures. Full borders in the calendar, on the leaves with small miniatures, and on some of the full-page miniatures with late-Flemish style flowers, strawberries, birds, butterflies, and other insects, with foliate decoration, on grounds of pale straw-colour, gold, grey, light green, or pink; one border (f. 67) is filled with cameos, pearls, and other Renaissance ornaments, another (f. 92) with lattice-work.
The subjects of the calendar roundels, the full-page miniatures and the historiated borders are:
1v: First page of January, two men warming themselves before a fireplace;
2r: Second page of January, a man in a snowy village, and above, the astrological figure Aquarius;
2v: First page of February, a traditional winter labour: peasants chopping and pruning wood from trees;
3r: Second page of February, a peasant carrying a bundle of twigs, and above, the astrological figure of Pisces;
3v: First page of March, gatherers of branches and twigs;
4r: Second page of the calendar for March, the planting of a garden and above, the astrological figure of Aries;
4v: First page of April; lovers relaxing in a garden;
5r: Second page of April, a musician before a dog in a landscape with sheep, and above, the astrological figure of Taurus;
5v: First page of May, an aristocratic couple with falcons;
6r: Second page of May, a woman in a garden, and above, the astrological figure of Gemini;
6v: First page of June, the labour of the month, haymaking;
7r: Second page of June, bathers, and above, the astrological figure of Cancer;
7v: First page of July, the labour of the month, wheat harvesting;
8r: Second page of July; a shepherd resting in a landscape with his herd and his dog, and above, the astrological figure of Leo;
8v: First page of August; two peasants after wheat harvesting;
9r: Second page of August, a peasant separating the wheat from the chaff, and above him the astrological figure of Virgo;
9v: First page of the calendar for September, the labour of the month, the harvesting of grapes;
10r: Second page of September, the labour of the month, the grape pressing, and above, the astrological figure of Libra;
10v: First page of October, a peasant sowing wheat;
11r: Second page of October, a peasant after sowing accompanied by his dog, and above, the astrological figure of Scorpio;
11v: First page of November, a peasant and a boar hunt;
12r: Second page of November, a peasant and a boar hunt, and above, the astrological figure of Sagittarius. Initials MY and YM in the decorated border;
12v: First page of December, two butchers and a cow;
13r: First page of December, a peasant killing a boar;
14v: The Sacrifice of Isaac;
39v: The Crucifixion;
45v: Pentecost;
46r: Children playing a game before a church;
66v: The Visitation;
67r: Old Testament scenes in cameos: David harping and Balaam and the Donkey;
75v: The Nativity;
79v: The Annunciation to the Shepherds;
83v: The Adoration of the Magi;
87v: The Presentation at the Temple;
91v: The Massacre of the Innocents;
97v: Christ and the Virgin Mary;
102v: The Virgin of the Rosary;
109v: The Last Judgment;
110r: A scene of peasants labouring;
125v: The Mass of Saint Gregory;
133v: The Temptation of Saint Anthony Abbot;
135v: St James the Great preaching;
137v: Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child;
139v: St. George and the dragon;
143v: The martyrdom of Saint Catherine;
145v: The disputation of Saint Barbara;
146r: The martyrdom of Saint Barbara;
148v: The Man of Sorrows and Mary Magdalene;
150v: Christ and the raising of Lazarus;
209v: The Ascension;
227v: Saint Jerome in the desert;
240v: The Pietá.
The programme of illuminations has been attributed to Simon Marmion and his assistants, the Master of the Houghton Miniatures, the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book, and the Ghent Associates (?), (see Kren, Renaissance (1993)).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002057322
040-002057336 - Is part of:
- Add MS 38114-38126 : HUTH BEQUEST. The following thirteen MSS., 38114-38126, were included amoung the fifty books to be selected from his…
Add MS 38126 : Book of Hours, Use of Rome (The 'Huth Hours') - Hierarchy:
- 032-002057322[0012]/040-002057336
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 38114-38126
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex, 252 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_38126 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1485
- End Date:
- 1490
- Date Range:
- 1485-1490
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 150 x 105 mm (text space: 70 x 50 mm).
Foliation: ff. viii + 252 (ff. i -vi are parchment flyleaves; ff. vii and viii are 2 large paper sheets folded and inserted at the end + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at beginning.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Pre-1600. Original blind-stamped leather, Ghent or Bruges (?), c.1500.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Netherlands, S. (Bruges) and France, N.E. (?Valenciennes).
Provenance:
A group of prayers added in French at the end of the manuscript in a late-fifteenth-century hand, including one to St. Louis, suggest that the book might have been made for a French person or someone close to the Flemish Hapsburg court (see Kren and McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance, 2003). However, saints included in the calendar (Quintianus [April 1. Hamburg]; Servatius [May 13, Liège, Utrecht]; Erasmus [June 3]; Gallus [October 16]; and Elisabeth [November 19]) might point to a German patron (see Clark, 'The chronology', 1992).
Probably Count Gian Antonio Baldini (b. 1654, d.1725), naturalist art and book collector, Piacenza: in the Baldini Museum, Piacenza, by 1752 (a handwritten description in Italian inserted on ff. vii and viii).
Henry Huth (b. 1815, d. 1878), book collector: his bookplate and number on the inside upper paste-down and in his catalogue, undertaken after his death, The Huth Library (1880), II, pp. 723-24; bequeathed to his son Alfred Huth.
Alfred H. Huth (b. 1850, d. 1910), book collector, born in London, second son of Henry Huth, bequeathed by him to the British Museum in 1910 (see Catalogue of the Huth Bequest (1912), pl. 4).
- Source of Acquisition:
- Alfred Henry Huth (b. 1850, d. 1910), book collector.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript; see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
The Huth Library: A Catalogue of the Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, and Engravings Collected by Henry Huth with collations and bibliographical descriptions, ed. by Frederick Startridge Ellis, with a preface by Alfred Henry Huth, 5 vols (London: Ellis & White, 1880), II, pp. 723-24.
Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts and Printed Books Bequeathed to the British Museum by Alfred H. Huth (London: British Museum, 1912), no. XIII, pp.16-19, pls.13-16.
Eric G. Millar, “Les Manuscrits à peintures des bibliothèques de Londres” Bulletin de la Société française de Reproductions de Manuscrits à Peintures, 4 (1914-1920), pp. 96-97, 103, 105-07, pls. XXXV-XXXVII.
John A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), p. 37.
Friedrich Winkler, Die flämische Buchmalerei des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts: Künstler und Werke von den Brüdern van Eyck bis zu Simon Bening / Mit 91 Lichtdrucktafeln (Leipzig: Seeman, 1925), pp. 40, 170, pl.10.
Friedrich Winkler, “Neuentdeckte Altniederländer: II, Gerard Horenbout”, Pantheon, 31 (1943), p. 60, figs. 6, 7.
Grete Ring, A Century of French Painting 1400-1500 (London: Phaidon, 1949), no. 174, pls. 101-02.
Sixten Ringbom, Icon to Narrative: the Rise of the Dramatic Close-up in Fifteenth Century Devotional Painting (Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 1965), pp. 196-98, 200, 202, figs. 171, 172.
Derek Turner, Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London: British Museum, 1967), pp. 50-51, pl. iv.
Edith Warren Hoffman, "Simon Marmion Re-considered", Scriptorium, 23 (1969), 243-71.
Antoine de Schryver, Gebetbuch Karls des Kühnen potius Stundenbuch der Maria von Burgund: Codex Vindobonensis 1857 der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek (Graz: Akademische druck- u. verlagsanstalt, 1969), p. 152 n. 263.
Sandra Hindman, 'The Case of Simon Marmion: Attributions and Documents', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 40 (1977), 188-90, 204.
Charles Sterling, 'Un Nouveau Tableau de Simon Marmion', Revue d’Art Canadienne/Canadian Art Review, 8 (1981), pp.10-11, 13-14, 17, fig. 4.
Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures from the British Library, ed. by Thomas Kren (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1983), no. 4, pp. 31-39.
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), p. 28, fig. 23.
George Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th centuries (Amsterdam: B.M. Israel, 1987), pp. 131, 141, 166.
Bodo Brinkmann, “The Contribution of Simon Marmion to Books of Hours from Ghent and Bruges” Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and The Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 188-90, figs 149, 151-53.
Gregory T. Clark, The Chronology of the Louthe Master and His Identification with Simon Marmion Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and The Visions of Tondal, ed.by Thomas Kren (Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp.199-201, 205, 206 n.1, 206 n. 3, 207 n. 18, 208 n. 14, figs 165-68.
Sandra Hindman, “The Leaves from an Unknown Breviary: the case for Simon Marmion” Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and The Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren, (Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 228, 232 n. 27.
Anne-Marie Legaré, The Master of Antoine Rolin: a Hainault illuminator working in the orbit of Simon Marmion Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and The Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 214-15, 218, figs 200, 204.
Alain Arnould and Jean Michel Massing, Spendours of Flanders (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 78.
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à Peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), p. 385 [exhibition catalogue].
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library,1997), p. 203, pl. 181.
Bodo Brinkmann, Die flämische Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturistenseiner Zeit (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), pp. 17 n. 48, 172-83, 192, 198, 201-02, 223, 230, 232, 370, 388, text pl. 55, pls 156-65, col. pl. 29.
Sur la Terre comme au Ciel: Jardins d'Occident a la fin du Moyen Age (Paris: Musée National du Moyen Age, 2002) p. 149,[exhibition catalogue].
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: the Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), cat. no. 33, pp. 174-76.
Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pls. 51-56.
Anne Margreet As-Vijvers, 'Recycling the Huth Hours', in Texts and Manuscripts in Transition; Recycling Manuscripts, Texts, and Images; Proceedings of the International Congress Held in Brussels (5 - 9 November2002), ed. by Brigitte Dekeyzer and Jan Van der Stock (Louvain: Peeters, 2005), pp. 379-90.
Anne-Marie Legaré, 'The Reception of the Dresden Prayer Book Master in the Hainaut', in Tributes in Honor of James H. Marrow. Studies in Painting and Manuscript Illumination of the Late Middle Ages and Northern Renaissance, ed. by Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Anne S. Korteweg (London: Turnhout, 2006), pp. 324-25, 330.
Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pl. 14.
Lieve De Kesel, ‘Heritage and Innovation in Flemish Book Illumination at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century: Framing the Frames From Simon Marmion to Gerard David’, in Books in Transition at the Time of Philip the Fair: Manuscripts and Printed Books in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century Low Countries, ed. by Hanno Wijsman (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010), pp. 93-130 (p. 114, fig. 32).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)