Books of Hours
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Hours of the Virgin
Infancy cycle
prime
 
Nativity
Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle
Hours for (mostly) Windesheim use, The Netherlands, Delft? c. 1415-20 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.866, ff. 33v-34r).
 
Nativity
Master of the Beaufort Saints
Stonyhurst Hours for Sarum use, Southern Netherlands, possibly Bruges, c. 1400-15 (Les Enluminures, f. 26v).
 
First Bath of Christ
Hours of Cecilia Gonzaga for Rome use, Italy, probably Milan, c. 1470, probably for Cecilia Gonzaga (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.454, f. 190r).
 
Nativity and Christ before Pilate
Hours for Rome use, Belgium, Bruges, 1460s (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.972, f. 88v).
3. hours of the Virgin
Infancy cycle
prime
Nativity
Master of the Morgan Infancy Cycle
The traditional subject of the miniature for Prime is the Nativity. As was typical with Dutch art, even at this early date, the scene is filled with narrative details of everyday life. A smiling Christ Child leans eagerly toward the cloth-covered hands of Mary's attendant. The shed is minutely described, down to the hole in the roof. Joseph, drying a diaper in the foreground, appears again in the initial on the facing leaf in his occupation as carpenter.

This Book of Hours--with its fifty-three full-page and seven half-page miniatures, ten historiated initials, and twenty-four Calendar vignettes--is one of the most richly illustrated Dutch manuscripts predating the Hours of Catherine of Cleves (c. 1440). The artist is named after his inventive series of miniatures for the Hours of the Virgin in this manuscript, filled with anecdotal elements. In addition to inspired iconography, the artist worked in more than one technique, sometimes within a single miniature: thick and generous gold, heavy impasto, thin washes, and pen drawing were handled equally well in this manuscript, which is regarded as his finest work.

Hours for (mostly) Windesheim use, The Netherlands, Delft? c. 1415-20 (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.866, ff. 33v-34r).
   
 
     
3. hours of the Virgin
Infancy cycle
prime
Nativity
Master of the Beaufort Saints
The traditional subject of the miniature for Prime is the Nativity. This scene is filled with narrative details of everyday life. Mary’s attendant holds the swaddled Christ Child, while Joseph sits on a rustic stool in the foreground and prepares porridge on an open fire. Mary herself reclines on a bed that shares its space with the trough from which the lone ox next to the bed will eat.

The illumination of this manuscript made for an English patron is attributable to the Master of the Beaufort Saints, or a close associate, a Flemish artist who illuminated several manuscripts for the English market in the early years of the fifteenth century, including the eponymous Beaufort/ Beauchamp Hours (British Library Royal MS 2 A.XVIII). The style is close to that of the Flemish panel painter Melchior Broederlam.

Stonyhurst Hours for Sarum use, Southern Netherlands, possibly Bruges, c. 1400-15 (Les Enluminures, f. 26v).
   
 
     
3. hours of the Virgin
Infancy cycle
prime
First Bath of Christ
Textually and pictorially, this is not a typical Book of Hours. It contains, for example, both the short and long Hours of the Cross and a rare litany of the Passion. The images, too, are uncommon. The Hours of the Virgin contain an unusual image of the Return of the Holy Family from Egypt (for Compline) and, reproduced here, an equally unusual First Bath of Christ (for Prime). The anonymous illuminator had a risqué sense of humor. The Virgin's finger, coming between Christ's legs, makes the young Savior appear specially endowed.

The manuscript apparently belonged to Cecilia Gonzaga, daughter of Lodovico II and Barbara of Brandenburg. The Gonzaga arms (as shown here), mottoes, and various devices can be found throughout the volume. Female busts in some of the larger initials (as shown here) are thought to represent Cecilia herself.

Hours of Cecilia Gonzaga for Rome use, Italy, probably Milan, c. 1470, probably for Cecilia Gonzaga (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.454, f. 190r).
   
 
     
3. hours of the Virgin
Infancy cycle
Prime
Nativity and Christ before Pilate
Quite often in the late Middle Ages, the Christ Child of the Nativity was shown naked and lying on the cold bare ground. Nearby his parents kneel and worship their Son and God. In this illustration for Prime, these elements are more dramatically rendered with the Savior, rather forlorn, upon the ground. Representations of the Adoration of the naked Christ Child on the ground and surrounded by rays of light can be traced to the influence of fourteenth-century St. Bridget of Sweden. In the last years of her life, Bridget made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and while in Bethlehem had a vision of Christ's birth; accounts of her experience, which she wrote before her death, circulated widely, especially after her canonization in 1391.

Swinging off to the left of the Nativity, like the small wing of an altarpiece, is an image of Christ before Pilate. The traditional Infancy cycle for the Hours of the Virgin is sometimes accompanied by an ancillary cycle illustrating Christ's Passion. The series normally includes the Agony in the Garden (at Matins), Betrayal (Lauds), Christ before Pilate (as here at Prime), Flagellation (Terce), Christ Carrying the Cross (Sext), Crucifixion (None), Deposition (Vespers), and Entombment (Compline).

Hours for Rome use, Belgium, Bruges, 1460s (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.972, f. 88v).
   
 
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1.
 Calendar Labors
Zodiac		  
2. Gospel Lessons John on Patmos
Luke
Matthew
Mark
  
3. Hours of the Virgin      
Infancy cycle
      
  Matins Annunciation  
Lauds Visitation  
  Prime Nativity  
  Terce Annunciation to Shepherds  
Sext Adoration of Magi  
  None Presentation  
  Vespers Flight into Egypt
or Massacre of the Innocents		  
Compline Coronation of the Virgin
or Flight into Egypt
or Massacre of the Innocents		  
  Passion cycle      
  Matins Agony    
  Lauds Betrayal    
  Prime Christ before Pilate  
Terce Flagellation    
  Sext Christ Carrying the Cross    
  None Crucifixion  
  Vespers Deposition    
  Compline Entombment    
4. Hours of the Cross Crucifixion    
Hours of the Holy Spirit Pentecost  
5. "Obsecro te'' Virgin and Child
   
  "O intemerata'' Lamentation
or Pietà		  
6. Penitential Psalms David in Penance
or David and Bathsheba
or Christ Enthroned
or Last Judgment		  
7. Office of the Dead Praying Office of the Dead
or Burial
or Last Judgment
or Job on the Dungheap
or Raising of Lazarus
or Lazarus and Dives
or Death Personified
or Three Living and Three Dead		  
8. Suffrages Saint with attribute
or Episode from life of the Saint		  
9. Accessory Texts various