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Details
THE ROCHECHOUART DE MORTEMART HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Tours, c.1490s]
A spectacular collaboration between the multitalented illuminator, painter, draftsman, and festival designer Jean Poyet and the Master of the Della Rovere Missals (Jacopo Ravaldi): a deluxe Book of Hours with an unbroken line of provenance within the same French noble family.
254 x 170mm. 114 leaves, complete, catchwords survive, 16 lines, ruled space: 150 x 82mm. Illuminated initials throughout, five large miniatures with full-page architectural borders with coat of arms of the Rochechouart / Mortemart family (miniature pages slightly cropped at margins, minor oxidisation to silver in coat of arms, small smudge to face of Christ on f.87). 19th-century French binding semé of fleurs-de-lis gilt.
Provenance: Extensive 16th- and 17th-century family records relating to the Damas and Rochechouart families, beginning in the 1520s with the births of Claude Damas, baron de Marcilly and vicomte de Châlon, son of Georges Damas and Jeanne de Rochechouart, and of his brothers L?éonard, Antoine and Pierre, and ending in 1638 with the death of Charles Damas, Chevalier des Ordres du Roi and Maréchal de Camp — coat of arms of the Rochechouart / Mortemart family in the borders of the miniature pages: barry wavy of six argent and gules — by descent to the current owner.
Content: Blanks ff.1-2; calendar ff.3-14v; blank f.15; Gospel extracts ff.16-20; Hours of Virgin, use of Rome, ff.21-65: matins f.21, lauds f.34, prime f.42, terce f.45, sext f.47v, none f.49v, vespers f.52, compline f.65; Hours of the Cross ff.65v-68; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.68v-70v; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.71-86v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.87-110v; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.111-112v; 7 Joys of the Virgin and suffrages to Sebastian, Christopher, Michael, Anthony, Barbara and Nicholas ff.113-114.
The subjects of the miniatures are: Annunciation f.21; Christ carrying the Cross f.65v; Pentecost f.68v; David playing his harp f.71; Raising of Lazarus f.87.
An exquisite example of the work of one the great masters of illumination of Renaissance France, Jean Poyet. The recognised successor of Jean Fouquet in Tours and the contemporary and rival of Jean Bourdichon, he was celebrated by the poet Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473-1525) as the equal of Simon Marmion and Rogier van der Weyden and worked for the courts of three successive French kings: Louis XI, Charles VIII, and Louis XII. The hallmarks of his style are evident in the present Hours: daring colour juxtapositions, strong, three-dimensional figures, thick and heavy draperies, and a masterful understanding of space.
Poyet did not work alone and, as with the splendid Book of Hours commissioned by Guillaume Briçonnet, France's secretary of the treasury under Charles VIII (Haarlem, Teylers Museum, Ms. 78), the present manuscript is a testament to an international partnership: that between Poyet and the Master of the della Rovere Missals. The latter is named after a sumptuous four-volume Missal produced for Cardinal Domenico della Rovere and was active in Italy and France at the end of the 15th century. We know that he worked in Tours, where he contributed to two Books of Hours (Paris, Bib. Arsenal, MS. 432; Modena, Bib. Estense, MS. A.K.7.2), and it is most likely in Tours that the present manuscript was produced. Where Poyet is responsible for the entrancing and vibrant full-page miniatures illustrating the Hours, the Master of the della Rovere Missals supplies the luxurious italianate architectural borders.
A spectacular collaboration between the multitalented illuminator, painter, draftsman, and festival designer Jean Poyet and the Master of the Della Rovere Missals (Jacopo Ravaldi): a deluxe Book of Hours with an unbroken line of provenance within the same French noble family.
254 x 170mm. 114 leaves, complete, catchwords survive, 16 lines, ruled space: 150 x 82mm. Illuminated initials throughout, five large miniatures with full-page architectural borders with coat of arms of the Rochechouart / Mortemart family (miniature pages slightly cropped at margins, minor oxidisation to silver in coat of arms, small smudge to face of Christ on f.87). 19th-century French binding semé of fleurs-de-lis gilt.
Provenance: Extensive 16th- and 17th-century family records relating to the Damas and Rochechouart families, beginning in the 1520s with the births of Claude Damas, baron de Marcilly and vicomte de Châlon, son of Georges Damas and Jeanne de Rochechouart, and of his brothers L?éonard, Antoine and Pierre, and ending in 1638 with the death of Charles Damas, Chevalier des Ordres du Roi and Maréchal de Camp — coat of arms of the Rochechouart / Mortemart family in the borders of the miniature pages: barry wavy of six argent and gules — by descent to the current owner.
Content: Blanks ff.1-2; calendar ff.3-14v; blank f.15; Gospel extracts ff.16-20; Hours of Virgin, use of Rome, ff.21-65: matins f.21, lauds f.34, prime f.42, terce f.45, sext f.47v, none f.49v, vespers f.52, compline f.65; Hours of the Cross ff.65v-68; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.68v-70v; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.71-86v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.87-110v; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.111-112v; 7 Joys of the Virgin and suffrages to Sebastian, Christopher, Michael, Anthony, Barbara and Nicholas ff.113-114.
The subjects of the miniatures are: Annunciation f.21; Christ carrying the Cross f.65v; Pentecost f.68v; David playing his harp f.71; Raising of Lazarus f.87.
An exquisite example of the work of one the great masters of illumination of Renaissance France, Jean Poyet. The recognised successor of Jean Fouquet in Tours and the contemporary and rival of Jean Bourdichon, he was celebrated by the poet Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473-1525) as the equal of Simon Marmion and Rogier van der Weyden and worked for the courts of three successive French kings: Louis XI, Charles VIII, and Louis XII. The hallmarks of his style are evident in the present Hours: daring colour juxtapositions, strong, three-dimensional figures, thick and heavy draperies, and a masterful understanding of space.
Poyet did not work alone and, as with the splendid Book of Hours commissioned by Guillaume Briçonnet, France's secretary of the treasury under Charles VIII (Haarlem, Teylers Museum, Ms. 78), the present manuscript is a testament to an international partnership: that between Poyet and the Master of the della Rovere Missals. The latter is named after a sumptuous four-volume Missal produced for Cardinal Domenico della Rovere and was active in Italy and France at the end of the 15th century. We know that he worked in Tours, where he contributed to two Books of Hours (Paris, Bib. Arsenal, MS. 432; Modena, Bib. Estense, MS. A.K.7.2), and it is most likely in Tours that the present manuscript was produced. Where Poyet is responsible for the entrancing and vibrant full-page miniatures illustrating the Hours, the Master of the della Rovere Missals supplies the luxurious italianate architectural borders.
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Robert Tyrwhitt