Collection ID: 0023 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Book of Hours, Use of Rouen

Other related names

• Lewis, John Frederick, 1860-1932, former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/63874811/)
• Richardson, Thomas F., former owner
• Lewis, Anne Baker, former owner

Funders

• Council on Library and Information Resources

Call number

Lewis E 126
(Philadelphia, United States, Free Library of Philadelphia, John Frederick Lewis Collection of European Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• https://know.freelibrary.org/Record/1560479
• deRicci: 83

Publisher

Free Library of Philadelphia

Language

Latin; Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)

Origin

Place

Rouen?, France

Summary

This richly illuminated Book of Hours of the Use of Rouen includes fifteen full-page miniatures, most of which are framed by elaborate architectural frames painted in shell gold. The calendar contains twenty-four vignettes representing the scenes of the zodiac and the labors of the month. The unusual miniature on fol. 14v represents an allegory known as the "Procès du Paradis," with female figures in grisaille representing Ecclesia, Justice, Pity, and Wisdom flanking an angel and overseen by the Trinity. An apparently original inscription above the miniature on fol. 35v mentions "Louis King of the French," presumably a reference to Louis XII (r. 1498–1515). The arms of the first owners, a man from the Quinard of Languedoc and a woman from the Venot-de-Noisy are included on a roundel on fol. 37v. A miniature on fol. 69r shows the couple who originally owned the book in prayer before the Virgin and Child. The remaining text pages are decorated with imaginatively varied panel borders. The calendar is of the Use of Rouen, with Saint Romain appearing in gold (23 October, fol. 5v). The Litany includes local Rouen Saints Mello, Romanus, Audoen, Ausbert, Wandregisil, and Wulfran.

Notes

• Manuscript has been severely trimmed, especially along top edge
   
• Inscription at top of architrave on fol. 35v, apparently original, mentions Louis XII of France (erroneously mentioned in Wolf as Louis XI of Burgundy): "LVDOVICVS : REX : FRANCORVM : BONVS : OPERATVS" ; inscription on plinth on same page reads "AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM BENEDITV IN" (sic)
   

Extent

I+76+i; 160 x 112 mm bound to 166 x 121 mm

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto

Collation

1 (6), 2 (5, +5), 3 (5, +5), 4 (6), 5-8 (10), 9 (6), 10 (8)

Support

Parchment

Binding

Sixteenth-century light brown morocco, gilt stamp with image of the instruments of the Passion on the covers with "INRI" inscribed on the crosses; gilt edges

Layout

Two columns of twenty-five lines, frame ruled in red ink; written area: 116 x 75 mm

Decoration

Twenty-four calendar vignettes, featuring the signs of the zodiac and the labors of the months; one full-page coat-of-arms, fifteen full-page miniatures; lateral borders on every page, each different, formed of leafy sprays and baroque decorations in geometric divisions, in shell gold, grisaille, and colors, decorated and illuminated initials and line-fillers throughout

Script

Bâtarde

Provenance

• Members of the families of Quinard of Languedoc and Venot de Noisy of Burgundy and Lyonnais; Thomas F. Richardson, Boston (stamped on front flyleaf: "Collection of Thos. F. Richardson, Boston"); John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia ("John F. Lewis, 1919" written in ink on front flyleaf; pencil notes also written in Lewis's hand on front flyleaf); given by his widow, Anne Baker Lewis, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1936
   

Related resources

• De Ricci, Seymour, with the assistance of W. J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, vol. 2 (New York,: H. W. Wilson, 1935-40), pp. 2038-2039, no. 83.
• Free Library of Philadelphia, A Descriptive Catalogue of the John Frederick Lewis Collection of European Manuscripts in the Free Library of Philadelphia, compiled by Edwin Wolf, 2nd, with an introduction by Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach (Philadelphia: The Library, 1937), pp. 140-141, no. 126.
• Tanis, James, ed., Leaves of Gold: Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia collections (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001), p. 118, n. 5.

Keywords

• Book of Hours
• 15th century
• 16th century
• Miniature
• Illumination
• France
• French
• Prayer book
• Private devotional text
• Illustration

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 126: Book of Hours, Use of Rouen are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  To the extent possible under law, Free Library of Philadelphia, Special Collections has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E 126: Book of Hours, Use of Rouen. This work is published from: United States. For a summary of CC0, see https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Legal code: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• Flyleaf 1 recto — Ownership notes and Thomas Richardson stamp
• fol. 1r — Calendar, in French
• fol. 7v — Gospel Lessons followed by Obsecro te and O intemerata
• fol. 15v — Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rouen, intercalated with the Hours of the Cross and Hours of the Holy Spirit
• fol. 43v — Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Prayers
• fol. 52v — Office of the Dead
• fol. 69v — Prayers to the Virgin for Saturday followed by other Prayers and Suffrages
• Flyleaf 1 recto — Ownership notes and Thomas Richardson stamp

Decorations

• fol. 1r — Calendar vignette, Aquarius (zodiacal sign of January)
• fol. 1r — Calendar vignette, January and its labors feasting
• fol. 1v — Calendar vignette, Pisces (zodiacal sign of February)
• fol. 1v — Calendar vignette, February and its labors keeping warm
• fol. 2r — Calendar vignette, Aries (zodiacal sign of March)
• fol. 2r — Calendar vignette, March and its labors pruning vines
• fol. 2v — Calendar vignette, Taurus, (zodiacal sign of April)
• fol. 2v — Calendar vignette, April and its labors hawking
• fol. 3r — Calendar vignette, Gemini (zodiacal sign of May)
• fol. 3r — Calendar vignette, May and its labors
• fol. 3v — Calendar vignette, Cancer (zodiacal sign of June)
• fol. 3v — Calendar vignette, June and its labors sheep herding
• fol. 4r — Calendar vignette, Leo, (zodiacal sign of July)
• fol. 4r — Calendar vignette, July and its labors reaping
• fol. 4v — Calendar vignette, Virgo (zodiacal sign of August)
• fol. 4v — Calendar vignette, August and its labors threshing
• fol. 5r — Calendar vignette, Libra (zodiacal sign of September)
• fol. 5r — Calendar vignette, September and its labors sowing
• fol. 5v — Calendar vignette, Scorpio (zodiacal sign of October)
• fol. 5v — Calendar vignette, October and its labors treading grapes
• fol. 6r — Calendar vignette, Sagittarius (zodiacal sign of November)
• fol. 6r — Calendar vignette, November and its labors thrashing for acorns
• fol. 6v — Calendar vignette, Capricorn (zodiacal sign of December)
• fol. 6v — Calendar vignette, December and its labors baking
• fol. 7r — Full-page miniature, John drinks from the poisoned chalice, given to him by the priest of Diana at Ephesus
• fol. 14v — Full-page miniature, Allegory of the Church Justice, Piety, and Wisdom with the Trinity ("Procès de Paradis")
• fol. 15r — Full-page miniature, Annunciation
• fol. 20v — Full-page miniature, Visitation
• fol. 26r — Full-page miniature, Crucifixion
• fol. 27r — Full-page miniature, Pentecost
• fol. 28r — Full-page miniature, Nativity
• fol. 31v — Full-page miniature, Annunciation to the Shepherds
• fol. 33v — Full-page miniature, Adoration of the Magi
• fol. 35v — Full-page miniature, Presentation in the Temple
• fol. 37v — Coat of Arms within wreath medallion
• fol. 38r — Full-page miniature, Flight into Egypt
• fol. 40r — Full-page miniature, Coronation of the Virgin
• fol. 43r — Full-page miniature, King David playing the Harp
• fol. 52r — Full-page miniature, Job on the Dung Heap mocked by his Friends
• fol. 69r — Full-page miniature, Man and Woman (owners or patrons) kneeling before the Virgin and Child