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Calendar |
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Calendar page
Billy Hours for Besançon use, France, Besançon, c. 1440-50
(Private Collection, f. 9). |
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April
Master of the Yale Missal
“Bonhet” Hours for Rome use, France, Tours, c. 1480
(Tours, Bibl. mun., MS 2285, f. 4). |
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May (Gemini)
attributed to Venturino Mercati
Hours for Rome use, Italy, probably Milan, c. 1470
(New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS G.14, f. 7v). |
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June
Master of the Narrow Eyes
Peckover Hours for Sarum use, Belgium, Bruges, c. 1455-60
(Private Collection, f. 6). |
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August
Workshop of Jean Pichore
Landau Hours for Paris use, France, Paris, c. 1500
(Private Collection, f. 8). |
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August
Hours for Soissons use, France, Paris, 1230s
(New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.92, f. 18v). |
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September
Hours for Rome use, Southeastern? France, c. 1430
(New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.64, f. 9r). |
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December
Simon Bening Da Costa Hours for Rome use (Office of the Dead), Belgium, Bruges, c. 1515, for a member of the Portuguese Sá family
(New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.399, f. 13v). |
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Second Age of Man (February)
Printed Horae for Rome use, Paris, Guillaume Le Rouge, [1510]
(Private Collection, f. a3v). |
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Planetary Man
Workshop of Jean Pichore Printed Horae for Rome use, Paris, Germain Hardouyn, c. 1534 [Almanac, 1534-46]
(Paris, Les Enluminures, f. A2v). |
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Zodiacal Man
Hours for Rome use, France, Kirchheim (Alsace), c. 1490 (almanac 1490-1508), printed by Marcus Reinhard
(New York, Pierpont Morgan Library 32528.1 [ChL 578], f. π2r). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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| Calendar page |
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| Chock full of information, Calendar pages in Books of Hours were the medieval way of telling time. Written in French, this Calendar page for the month of September begins “September has 30 days” and “the moon is on the 30th.” Feast days in red are the more important ones, the “red letter days.” Here they are Saints Leo and Gilles on September 1, the Birth of the Virgin Mary on September 8, and the Feast of the Holy Cross on September 14. To the left of the feasts are three columns. The first column lists the Golden Numbers, which indicate the appearances of the new moons and the full moons throughout the year. The Dominical Letters (“a” through “g”) in the second column help one find Sundays. The third column includes the ancient Roman calendrical system, listing Ides (“id”) and Kalends (“kl”).
Billy Hours for Besançon use, France, Besançon, c. 1440-50 (Private Collection, f. 9). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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April
Master of the Yale Missal |
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Rectangular panel borders were one solution for illustrating Calendars. Here for April, the Labor of the Month occurs in the upper two thirds of the illumination and the Sign of the Zodiac, a bull for Taurus, occurs in the lower third. The activities or Labors of the Months were usually coordinated with the seasons of the year. April celebrated the coming of Spring both with the picking of the first flowers and with courtship activities. For this reason, a man holds up a flower, which he is about to present, we are meant to imagine, to his ladylove located just outside the picture.
The Master of the Yale Missal, also known as the Mamerot Master, is responsible for the miniatures in this manuscript (see the two eponymous manuscripts: Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS 425, and Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek , Cod. 2577-78). Collaborating with Jean Colombe and borrowing heavily from Jean Fouquet, he worked primarily in the royal capital of Tours.
“Bonhet” Hours for Rome use, France, Tours, c. 1480 (Tours, Bibl. mun., MS 2285, f. 4). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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June
Master of the Narrow Eyes |
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Written in Latin, this Calendar page for the month of June includes the Labors of the Month and the Signs of the Zodiac in horizontal panels at the bottom of the pages. On the right, an image of a crab (looking remarkably like a lobster) is the symbol for Cancer. On the left a young man holding a scythe is harvesting a wheat field, an activity associated with the summer season and sometimes also used to illustrate the month of July.
The small miniatures in this manuscript, including the calendar scenes, are painted by one of the members of the Gold Scrolls group called the Masters of the Narrow Eyes. Named after the characteristic slit-like eyes of their figures, these artists were associated in Bruges around mid-century with Willem Vrelant’s workshop.
Peckover Hours for Sarum use, Belgium, Bruges, c. 1455-60 (Private Collection, f. 6). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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August
Workshop of Jean Pichore |
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The Labor of the Month and the Sign of the Zodiac for August share a space in this scene of coquettery. A dapper young man wields a scythe during the wheat harvest, while an elegant woman, the symbol of Virgo, holds a martyr’s palm in each of her hands. As he steals a glance at her, she looks off demurely in the distance. The most important feast days in this calendar are written in gold leaf, a sure sign of a luxury production. Saint Louis on August 25 helps locate the manuscript in Paris.
This manuscript was painted by Jean Pichore who is documented as a “decorator and miniaturist” in Paris from 1502 to 1520. The refined, highly finished miniatures are in keeping with his easily recognizable style.
Landau Hours for Paris use, France, Paris, c. 1500
(Private Collection, f. 8). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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August
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This Calendar, from an early Book of Hours, one of the earliest, includes all the usual contents (reading from the left): the Golden Numbers, Dominical Letters, Roman calendar, and list of feast days. The important holy days were written in red and lesser ones in black, like the second line. This Calendar also contains the Labors of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac. Here, for August, the Labor is threshing wheat, performed by a youth stripped down to his medieval underwear, and the astrological sign is Virgo, represented by a young woman proffering a flower.
This Book of Hours, from one of Paris's finer workshops, contains 14 large and 118 small miniatures. The prickings clearly visible at the bottom of the leaf were used as guides to the scribe when laying out the multiple columns of text.
Hours for Soissons use, France, Paris, 1230s (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.92, f. 18v). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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September
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From the thirteenth to the early fifteenth century, Calendar illustrations were usually vignettes, small pictures no larger than modern (domestic) postage stamps. But throughout the course of the fifteenth century, artists and their patrons took an increasing interest in these secular elements, which begin to grow, both in size and importance. In this manuscript the illustrations of the Labors break through the gold frame enclosing the Calendar and rise through the foliate border.
The calendar scenes, as well as all the miniatures throughout this Book of Hours, are housed within elaborate architectural structures, and even the outdoor labors are performed “indoors.” September's work is wine making; workers remove full baskets from their horse, carry them upstairs, and dump the grapes into a vat for stomping.
Hours for Rome use, Southeastern? France, c. 1430
(New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.64, f. 9r). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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December
Simon Bening |
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It was Simon Bening (1483/84-1561), the last great Flemish illuminator, who capitalized on the taste for large Calendar miniatures, taking them to their limit by making them full-page. The artist was stimulated by the Calendar pictures, unique in the early fifteenth century, in one of the most famous of all medieval Books of Hours, the Très Riches Heures of Jean, duc de Berry (Chantilly, Musée Condé, MS 65). Inspired by the full-page Calendar cycles, Bening created the miniatures in this manuscript. The duc de Berry's manuscript also intensified Bening's interest in landscape. As seen in this December miniature depicting the butchering of a hog, the wintery cold of snow-covered hills and bare trees are the real subject of the picture.
Bening's fame was widespread in his lifetime, and his creations were much sought after, not only in Belgium, but also in Italy, Germany, and Portugal. This manuscript was made for a member of the Portuguese Sá family; it then passed to King Manuel's armorer, Alvaro da Costa, after whom it takes its name.
Da Costa Hours for Rome use (Office of the Dead), Belgium, Bruges, c. 1515, for a member of the Portuguese Sá family (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.399, f. 13v). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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Second Age of Man (February)
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Although there are a few manuscripts with this theme, the Ages of Man (as opposed to the Labors or Zodiac) were apparently only used as Calendar illustrations in sixteenth-century printed Horae. Traceable to a fourteenth-century French poem, the Twelve Ages divide man’s life span into periods of six years and draw parallels between the seasonal changes and man’s growth, maturity, and decline. January (the first six years) symbolizes infancy; February (ages seven to twelve) denotes childhood; March (thirteen to eighteen) represents adolescence; and so forth, until December when (at seventy-two) man succumbs to senility and death.
The hand-colored woodcut illustrating February shows children learning to read and being punished for not doing so. The sign of Pisces appears in the upper background. The French quatrain accompanying the woodcut reads in translation: “The next six years resemble February; At the end of which there is the beginning of Spring; When the spirit is ready to accept learning; and the child becomes sweet at the age of twelve.”
Printed Horae for Rome use, Paris, Guillaume Le Rouge, [1510], (Private Collection, f. a3v). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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Planetary Man
Workshop of Jean Pichore |
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Among the extra images often found in the Calendars of printed Horae are those illustrating the effects of planets on different parts of the human body, shown here as an eviscerated corpse. Starting at the top and preceding clockwise, this diagram reveals that the sun rules the stomach, Venus the kidneys, the moon the head, Mars the gall bladder Jupiter the liver, and Saturn the spleen. In the corners are personifications of the four temperaments. The choleric (the element fire), whose symbol is the lion, angrily stabs himself. The sanguine (the element air) calmly holds a hawk, accompanied by a monkey. The Melancholic leads a pig, and his element is earth. The phlegmatic animal is the lamb, and his element water. The Planetary Man was especially pertinent to medical practice of the Middle Ages. The upper right text, for example, reads, “When the moon is in Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, it is good to bleed the choleric.”
Jean Pichore, who is documented as a “decorator and miniaturist” in Paris from 1502 to 1520, designed the woodcuts, and this one is based on models already in use in the 1480s.
Printed Horae for Rome use, Paris, Germain Hardouyn, c. 1534 [Almanac, 1534-46] (Paris, Les Enluminures, f. A2v). |
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| 1. |
Calendar |
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Zodiacal Man
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In addition to Planetary Man, many printed Horae included cuts illustrating the influence of the zodiac over different parts of the body. As seen here, Aries governs the head and face; Gemini, the shoulders, arms, and hands; Leo, the stomach, heart, and back; Libra, the navel, groin, and buttocks; Sagittarius, the thighs; Aquarius, the legs from the knees to the heels and ankles; Pisces, the feet; Capricorn, the knees; Scorpio, the genitals; Virgo, the belly and entrails; Cancer, the breast, sides, and spleen; and Taurus, the neck and throat. This information, used in conjunction with that provided with charts of Planetary Man, was especially useful in times of disease or injury.
Marcus Reinhard's establishment in Kirchheim was his second press. Earlier he had been a printer in Lyon but had closed shop around 1482. Success seems to have eluded him in Alsace, however. He began around 1489-90, apparently with this Horae, but his presses stopped by the mid-1490s.
Hours for Rome use, France, Kirchheim (Alsace), c. 1490 (almanac 1490-1508), printed by Marcus Reinhard (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library 32528.1 [ChL 578], f. π2r) |
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