Getty Museum

Book of Hours

Date

about 1500

Medium

Tempera colors and gold paint

Culture

Flemish

Department

Manuscripts

Institution

Getty Museum

A book of hours, the most popular type of medieval devotional manuscript, provided Christians with prayers, psalms, and hymns arranged for recitation at specific times of each day. This richly illuminated book of hours contains traditional features such as the Office of the Virgin and Office of the Cross as well as distinctive elements, including a mass for the Virgin Mary, a mass for All Souls, and collections of prayers to the Virgin, Christ, and for the faithful reception of Holy Communion (a Christian ceremony in which believers receive bread and wine that are ritually transformed into Jesus’s body and blood, commemorating his sacrifice). One significant feature of this book of hours is that the texts and illuminations point to two different places of origin. The texts, primarily written in Dutch with features of the Cologne dialect, along with the presence of many Cologne saints in the Calendar and Litany (a list of petitions and prayers to various saints) point to Cologne as the production place. The coat of arms painted on fols. 86v and 87 also reveals that the patron may have been from the prominent von Aussem family in Cologne. The manuscript shows portraits of this patron—a lay woman likely with her daughter kneeling reverently at the foot of Jesus’s Crucifixion—on fol. 86v and the same woman, clothed likewise in red dress with black collar, kneeling to receive Holy Communion on fol. 113v. Reading prayers in a dialect familiar to her and seeing herself depicted in these scenes may have helped her envision Christ’s suffering more vividly and were intended to strengthen her faith in Christ’s sacramental grace. The illuminations, by contrast, are in a style associated with Flemish manuscripts of the period and are attributed to the workshop of Gerard Horenbout (c. 1465-1541), also known as Master of James IV of Scotland, who was active in Ghent. His most famous works include Getty’s own [Spinola Hours][1]. The illuminations, primarily portraying scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin, are enclosed in golden frames that often transform into delicate leaves and tendrils. The images are complemented by lavish depictions of plants, flowers, insects, and animals in the borders. Although no definitive record survives, it is possible that the illuminator traveled to Cologne, or that the text was first completed there and subsequently sent to Flanders for illumination, as Flemish work was highly sought-after across Europe at this time. The patron may have deliberately chosen such an arrangement in order to combine local textual traditions with the prestige of Flemish illumination. [1]: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RVJ

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