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Detailed record for Harley 2979
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| Title |
Book of Hours, Use of Clermont (Hours of the Virgin), and Use of Brioude (Hours of the Dead), imperfect |
| Origin |
France, S. (Avignon) |
| Date |
c. 1390 - c. 1400 |
| Language |
Latin and some French |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Artists |
Attributed to the workshop of Giovanni da Tolosa (see The Splendor of the Word 2005); one miniature attributed to Jean Bandini (f. 95v) (see Manzari 2004, p. 244) |
| Decoration |
20 small miniatures in the lower margin of the calendar, in colours and gold (ff. 8-19v); 4 small miniatures cut out (ff. 10r-v, 14r-v). 11 full-page miniatures with large decorated initials, the first with a historiated initial, and full foliate borders including dragons, in colours and gold (ff. 20, 51, 54, 57, 80, 83v, 87v, 88, 95v, 130, 176v); 4 miniatures missing after ff. 36 (Lauds), 44 (Prime), 48 (Terce), 61 (Compline). Large and small decorated initials with full, three-sided or partial foliate borders, in colours and gold. Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds. Capital letters highlighted in yellow. |
| Dimensions in mm |
195 x 130 (120 x 70) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 191 (+ 3 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Harleian binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers; gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
Unidentified original owner: erased arms (f. 20) and depiction in a miniature (f. 176v)
'Thomas Leclerc(?)', 16th century, inscribed with his name (ff. 1, 65).
'Jaques Lescuyer', 1579, inscribed in French with his name and the date (ff. 6v-7, cf. ff. 149v, 188v).
La Vallé collection: inscribed 'Ex Libris Vallee', 16th/17th century; added prayers (ff. 190v, 191v).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '13 die mensis Augusti, A.D. 1724' (f. 1). Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
A partially erased heading reads 'Incipiunt hore beate marie ad usum cla(r?)is m(onti?)s' (f. 20).
Containing a series of votive masses, frequent in French and Lombard Books of Hours (ff. 146-169v).
Prayers, including red initials with purple pen-flourishing, added by two contemporary professional hands (ff. 1v-6 and 185-190v).
Calendar including Provençal saints such as Elzéar (September), Catalan and Aragonese saints such as Eulalia (December), and Quiteria (May), and Lombard saints such as Tecla (September), Nazario and Celso (July).
Litany (ff. 132-138v) including Martial and Peter of Luxembourg.
Very close in style to a Book of Hours (last quarter of the 14th century) from the workshop of Giovanni da Tolosa (also known as Jean de Toulouse) (Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, Ms. Pal. 203). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 2979.
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 2 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), I, 240, II, fig. 766.
Französische Gotik und Renaissance in Meisterwerk der Buchmalerei. Ausstellung der Handschriften und Inkunabelsammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, ed. by Dagmar Thoss and Otto Pächt (Vienna: 1978), p. 95 [exhibition catalogue].
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Book of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), no. 35.
The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 262 n. 3 [exhibition catalogue].
Francesca Manzari, La Miniatura ad Avignone al Tempo dei Papi (1310-1410) (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2006), pp. 241, 243-45, 249, 266, 348, 349, fig. 124 (f. 95v).
Michel Huglo and Barbara Haggh-Huglo, 'L'office de Saint-Julien de Brioude,' Brioude aux temps carolingiens: actes du colloque international organisé par la ville de Brioude, 13-15 Septembre 2007, (Le Puy-en-Velay: Éditions de la Société académique du Puy et de la Haute-Loire, 2010), pp. 413-26, p. 414. |
| Last revised: 31 July 2006 |
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f. 8
January |
f. 9
February |
f. 9v
Calendar |
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f. 11
April |
f. 12v
Calendar |
f. 13
Threshing |
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f. 16
September |
f. 18v
Calendar |
f. 20
Annunciation |
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f. 51
Adoration of the Magi |
f. 54
Flight into Egypt |
f. 57
Massacre of the Innocents |
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f. 80
Pentecost |
f. 83v
Crucifixion |
f. 87v
Raising of Lazarus |
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f. 88
Funeral service |
f. 94v
Resurrection |
f. 130
Christ in Majesty |
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f. 176v
Virgin and Child |
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