LIVRE D'HEURES À L'USAGE D'UTRECHT Lot n° 27

In the Dutch translation by Geert Grote. Manuscript, IJssel region (Zwolle?), circa 1470-90. In-12, [186 ff. ]; 140 x 100 mm (83 x 60 mm); 19 long lines in carbon ink on parchment, ruled in graphite; textualis libraria, one hand for the entire manuscript; 5 historiated initials and one painted initial over 10 lines with framing, 22 champie letters with antennae adorned with gilded three-lobed flowers, small free green leaves and gilded besants, gilding on the leaf, red and blue lettrines, end-of-lines (litanies), rubrics. Later 19th-century binding in the 18th-century style: full marbled calf, 5-rib spine decorated with gilt caissons, double fillet framing the boards with small irons at the corners and the numeral "JV"(?) in Gothic letters with a marquis's crown in the center, silver clasps, roulette on the edges, blue, yellow and red speckled edges; corners rubbed with a small loss on one of them, circular trace of the clasp on the spine, number scratched on the lower cover (150 x 110 mm). Books of hours for the use of Utrecht, similar in iconography to the group of Sarijs-handschriften from Zwolle. TEXT - f. 1-12: Calendar: in Utrecht Dutch; month names in Latin and Dutch; the seven feasts of the diocese are rubricated: Pontiaen mr. (January 14), Pancraes mr. (May 12), Odulf confessor (June 12), Lebuijn confessor (June 25 and November 12), S. Martijns ?hessinghe (July 4); Augustijn bisscop (August 28) and Willibrord bisscop (November 7). The saints' names are sometimes still in Latin. The calendar strictly follows Utrecht usage and lacks the peculiarities of the Sarijs-hanschriften noted by L. Wierda in his 1989 article and 1995 thesis. - f. 13r-50v: Getijden der Heilige Maagd: Hours of the Virgin. Rubr. "Hier beghinnen die gethide van onser vrouwen." - f. 51r-74v: Getijden der Eeuwige Wijsheid: Hours of the eternal wisdom of Henricus Suso. Rubr: "Hier beghint die prologus vander ewigher wijsheit". - f. 75r-102v : Getijden van de Heilige Geest : Hours of the Holy Spirit : Rubr. "Hier beghinnen die gethide vanden heilighen gheeste". - f. 103r-127v: Lange Getijden van het Heilige Kruis: Long Hours of the Cross: Rubr. "Hier beghinnen die langhe gethide vanden heiligehen cruis". - f. 128r-137r : Boetpsalmen: Penitential psalms - f. 137r-148r : Litany: saints honored in Utrecht include Boniface, Lebuin, Willibrord, Aldebert, Ludger, etc. - f. 149r-186r: Vigilie: Office of the Dead ICONOGRAPHY Historiated painted initials : - f. 13: Virgin and Child (Madonna), type 4a frame described by L. Wierda - f. 51: Salvador Mundi, type 3c frame - f. 75: Annunciation (Pinksteren), type 6c frame - f. 103: Man of Sorrows (Man van Smarten), type 3e frame - f. 128: Last Judgment (Laasste Oordeel), type 1b frame The historiated initials are followed by a 10-line painted initial with type 3c framing and accompanied by 22 champie letters with antennae adorned with three-lobed flowers, free green comma-shaped leaves and besants (type 3b framing according to L. Wierda; see also the drawings listed by L. Wierda, p. 131-134, "pennerondjes", tekening 12, with "kommavormig blaadje", tekening 25). The various subjects follow the classic icono-graphic cycle listed by Wierda (p. 70): the Virgin and Child for the Hours of the Virgin, the Salvador Mundi for the Hours of Eternal Wisdom, the Annunciation for the Hours of the Holy Spirit, the Man of Sorrows for the Hours of the Cross and the Last Judgment for the Penitential Psalms. The style of the historiated initials and frames is very similar to the manuscript preserved at Zwolle HCO: Coll. GAZ 57, identified as part of the Sarijs-handischriften. The copyist's hand also appears similar to our own. The artist of the manuscript differs mainly in the face of the Virgin, but all the compositions are based on the same model. The features of the various representations of Christ in our manuscript are similar to those of the Zwolle Last Judgment, but there is something in the eyes that suggests a different hand. Two other manuscripts preserved in Leiden are also similar: Leiden, UB: ms. LTK 298 (different copyist but same type 3b frame) and LTK 299 (same composition for the Virgin and same type 4a and 3b frames). BIBLIOGRAPHY Wierda, L. De Sarijs-handschriften, laat-middeleeuwse handschriften uit de IJsselstreek. Zwolle, [1995]. - Georgette Epiney-Burgard, Gérard Grote, 1340-1384, et les débuts de la dévotion moderne, Wiesbaden, 1970. - Lydia S. Wierda, "Some Observations on the Importance of Texts for the Study of Illuminated Manuscripts" in MASTERS AND MINIATURES. Proceedings of the Congress on Medi