books of hours (the medieval “best - les enluminures · 2020. 4. 1. · solitude after dinner, or...
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Les Enluminures offers one of the largest and most wide-ranging inventories of Books of Hours by
different artists and in diverse price ranges in the world. Our highly qualified staff, from some of
the greatest universities located in America, Europe, and Britain, describes each Book of Hours with
guaranteed accuracy. Our team takes great pleasure in introducing Books of Hours to anyone who
delights in experiencing and knowing about the European Middle Ages, at any level. We welcome
inquiries from serious collectors, libraries, and museums.
Sparkling with gold leaf and illustrated with many pictures, Books of Hours (the medieval “best-
seller”) survive in large numbers as captivating artistic and textual expressions of daily medieval
life. More than almost any other type of medieval illuminated manuscript, they are still accessible
purchases and can be enjoyed, not only in museums, but at home. We can gaze at them in contented
solitude after dinner, or discuss them with friends who visit, or, as Christopher de Hamel colorfully
imagines, even read them in bed.
Beginning with this offering, we will send bi-annual updates of Books of Hours newly available for
purchase. Private Skype tutorials to new clients interested in acquiring a Book of Hours are availa-
ble on request.
SANDRA HINDMAN
KEEGAN GOEPFERT
FLEUR CALLEGARI
LAURA LIGHT
No one can claim understanding of the late Middle Ages who has not read a Book of Hours in bed.
— Christopher de Hamel
www.lesenluminures.com
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.lesenluminures.com
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ENCHANTING MARGINALIA, A FULL ILLUMINATED CALENDAR,
AND DONOR PORTRAIT, ALL MADE-TO-ORDER
Book of Hours (use of Paris)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Paris, c. 1450
5 large miniatures and 25 small miniatures, related in style to the Master of the
Munich Golden Legend, and 24 calendar vignettes
Paris continued as a center even after the English occupation in the 1420s, and
this Book of Hours illuminated c. 1450 by a member of the workshop or circle of
the Master of the Munich Golden Legend (fl. c. 1420-1460) stands out as a good
example of Parisian art after the Limbourg Brothers and Bouciaut Master. A
nobleman pictured on folio 174, kneeling before the Virgin with Saint Barbara
and Angels, commissioned the book. Small-scale Calendar medallions enrich the
manuscript with vignettes of the Zodiac and the Labors of the Month. Playful
scenes of birds, animals, and wild women set within acanthus vines tooled with
gold leaf fill the finely painted borders.
BOH 190 USD 125,000
MINIATURE VERSION OF THE WORLD EVOKED BY THE VAN
EYCKS AND ROGER VAN DER WEYDEN
Book of Hours (use of Rome)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Southern Netherlands (most likely Bruges), c. 1450
6 full-page miniatures in the late style of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls with
full borders
A jewel-sized Book of Hours small enough to fit in one’s pocket. Six full-page
miniatures and abundant borders typify Bruges book illumination before and
around 1450, here by the Masters of the Gold Scrolls. Already the domesticity
of Netherlandish art is clearly apparent, with interiors set in low rooms with tiled
floors and silvered lattice windows. At a dozen removes, this is a miniature ver-
sion of the world evoked by the Van Eycks and Roger van der Weyden, in which
sacred history is replayed in the bourgeois setting of the southern Netherlands.
TM 1109
USD 35,000
CLASSIC EXAMPLE FROM BRUGES, CENTER OF “ARS NOVA,” WITH
LAVISH LIQUID AND BURNISHED GOLD
Book of Hours (use of Rome)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1460
11 full-page miniatures in the style of the Masters of the Beady Eyes, and 25
illuminated full borders
A booming city, called the “cradle of capitalism” in the fifteenth century, Bruges
was the center of the “ars nova” reflected in the work of its illuminators from Jan
van Eyck through to Sinon Bening. This Book of Hours from mid-century in the
style of the anonymous Bruges painter, Masters of the Beady Eyes, is distin-
guished by a number of charming details, such as the delicate gold feathering
decorating the canopy behind the Virgin and Child on folio 21v and the atmos-
pheric seaside vista on folio 56v. Luxurious margins decorated with flowers and
interlocking acanthus stems surround the miniatures.
BOH 184
USD 90,000
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CHARMING MARGINAL SCENES INCLUDING AN EARLY DEPICTION
OF A GAME OF CARDS
Book of Hours (use of Paris and Tours)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Western France (likely Angers), c. 1465
4 miniatures and 7 historiated initials by an anonymous follower of the Master of
Adelaïde of Savoy and the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio
Fascinating Book of Hours that includes a rare, early depiction of a game of cards, in
addition to other engaging details, involving monkeys, musicians, and dancers often
in comic poses or situations. A tantalizing visual reference to a broken heart appears
amongst the marginalia. The manuscript is illuminated by an anonymous artist close
to the leading illuminators who worked in Angers and Tours at the time of René of
Anjou and Jean Fouquet. In the absence of concrete evidence, we can only imagine
who was the original brokenhearted owner.
BOH 187 USD 55,000
PROPERTY OF THE MISTRESS OF KING FRANÇOIS I OF FRANCE
The Hours of Françoise de Foix (use of Bayeux)
In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Northwestern France, Normandy (Bayeux), c. 1480-1490
4 full-page miniatures with full borders
This Book of Hours very likely belonged to Françoise de Foix, Comtesse de Château-
briant, favored mistress of King Francis I of France. It includes a previously unknown
acrostic poem to the Virgin, most probably composed by Françoise herself – an ama-
teur poetess. The engaging miniatures are by an artist who painted another Book of
Hours localizable in Bayeux. The courtly character of the book is accentuated by a
splendid sixteenth-century binding, gold-tooled à la fanfare by the royal atelier of King
Henri III of France.
BOH 179
USD 575,000
SMALL-SCALE ROYAL MASTERPIECE MADE FOR KING CHARLES VIII
OF FRANCE
The Petites Heures of Charles VIII, King of France (r. 1483-1498) (use of Paris)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment.
France, Paris, c. 1490-1493 (before 1494)
1 full-page heraldic miniature, 12 full-page, and 10 small miniatures by the Master
of the Chronique scandaleuse
The Petites Heures of Charles VIII marks the dawn of a renewed trend for minute master-
pieces of parchment made for members of the royal family and court. This manu-
script is one of five extant manuscript Books of Hours known to have been made for
the personal use of Charles VIII, King of France (r. 1483-1498) and the sole to re-
main in private hands. Unquestionable evidence of his royal patronage lies in the
presence of a full-page miniature with his achievement of arms and of an ex-libris
with his name and personal motto, as well as in the textual and decorative content of
a manuscript that is suited only to the needs of a French sovereign. The second tini-
est Book of Hours ever made for King Charles VIII, the Petites Heures of Charles VIII
were illuminated in Paris by the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse, regarded as
the most innovative artist active in late fifteenth-century Paris. The challenging size
of the present manuscript demonstrates his utmost mastery of color at a microscopic
scale. Preceding by no less than four years the commission of the famous Très Petites
Heures of Anne of Brittany, the Petites Heures of Charles VIII appears as a hitherto un-
published and probable inspiration for the Queen’s own patronage.
BOH 182
USD 80,000
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DIVINE AND EARTHLY LOVE IN A NORMAN BOOK CUSTOM-MADE
FOR A WOMAN
Book of Hours (use of Rouen)
In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Northwestern France (Rouen), c. 1480-1490; c. 1490-1500
8 miniatures by Robert Boyvin with full borders; 1 miniature by an anonymous illu-
minator
Women’s special relationship to Books of Hours is commonplace. Nonetheless, ex-
amples that survive showing a female patron in prayer before the Virgin and Child,
like this one, provide concrete examples of devout women modeling themselves on
the life of the historical Mary. At the beginning his successful career, the important
Norman illuminator Robert Boyvin painted this carefully executed and well-preserved
Book of Hours. Also included at the beginning of the book is a slightly later, unusual
miniature depicting a young dignitary, perhaps from the French royal court, disguised
among emblems that declare his love.
BOH 183
UNUSUALLY RICH NARRATIVE PAINTINGS WITH INTRICATE ARCHI-
TECTURAL BORDERS
Book of Hours (use of Troyes)
Latin, Calendar and select rubrics in French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Troyes or Rouen, c. 1510-1520
13 miniatures by a painter from the circle of the Master of the Missal of Raoul du
Fou
Rouen and Troyes emerged as the most significant centers of art production north of
Paris after the conclusion of the Hundred Years’ War in the late fifteenth century.
On the eve of the Renaissance, this book survives as testimony to these flourishing
capital cities, made in Rouen by an artist from the circle of the Master of the Missal of
Raoul du Fou (fl. c. 1480-1530) for a client possibly from Troyes. Complex architec-
tural borders reminiscent of Jean Pichore (fl. 1502-1521) house narrative episodes
that expand upon details of the story told in the main miniatures.
BOH 185
USD 95,000
USD 85,000
HAND-COLORED IMPRINT IN AN SMALL OBLONG FORMAT FOR EASY
USE AS A VADEMECUM OF PRIVATE DEVOTION
Printed Book of Hours (use of Rome)
In Latin and French, illuminated imprint on parchment
Paris, Germain Hardouyn, c. 1536 (almanac for 1536-1548)
14 large metalcuts and printer’s device with borders, 1 small metalcut, all skillfully
illuminated likely in the Hardouyn Workshop
Paris was truly the epicenter of the production of printed books of Hours from 1485
to nearly 1550. Many of these imprints, like this example, consciously imitated illu-
minated manuscripts. In this particularly appealing volume, fourteen metalcuts are so
vibrantly and expertly painted that they are indistinguishable from illuminated minia-
tures. It is a tiny book, in a distinctive and unusual format, very narrow and oblong,
fitting easily in a pocket to carry about for use in private devotion. This is a very rare
imprint, possibly a unicum.
BOH 180 USD 35,000
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