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Detailed record for Harley 5370
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Title |
Book of Hours, Use of Angers |
Origin |
France, W. (Angers) |
Date |
c. 1450 |
Language |
Latin, and some French |
Script |
Gothic |
Artists |
By different hands, one miniature in the style of the Dunois Master (f. 33), one or two hands linked to the style of the late Bedford Master workshop (ff. 48v, 64, 127, 153, 156, 158v, 161v, 169v), and four local illuminators, A (ff. 66, 68, 116v, 160, 173), B (ff. 79, 164v, 167), C (ff. 87v, 96, 104v, 163), and D (ff. 168v, 171). |
Decoration |
24 full-page miniatures with decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 33, 48v, 64, 66, 68, 79, 87v, 96, 104v, 116v, 127, 153, 156, 158v, 160, 161v, 163, 164v, 165v, 167, 168v, 169v, 171, 173). 2 large decorated initials with partial foliate borders, in colours and gold, for the Obsecro te and the O intemerata (ff. 18, 24). Large initials (2-3 lines) in gold on red and blue grounds with partial foliate borders. Small initials and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds. |
Dimensions in mm |
155 x 115 (90 x 50) |
Official foliation |
ff. i + 220 (f. i is a medieval parchment flyleaf; + 28 parchment flyleaves at the end) |
Collation |
i12 (ff. 1-12), ii-iii8 (ff. 13-28), iv4 (ff. 29-32); v-viii8 (ff. 33-65), ixseven (ff. 66-72), x-xv8 (ff. 73-120), xvi6 (ff. 121-126); xvii-xxi8 (ff. 127-166), xxii6 (ff. 167-172); xxiii-xxviii8 (ff. 173-220) |
Form |
Parchment codex |
Binding |
Pre-1600. Gold-tooled brown leather, 16th century; traces of clasps; gilt edges. |
Provenance |
Unidentified original owner: erased arms (ff. 48v, 64, 66, 127, 173). Inscribed in French in a 16/17th?-century hand the number of miniatures and borders (last two flyleaves). 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. Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née 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. |
Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III, no. 5370.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 17.
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 38.
Gregory T. Clark, Art in a Time of War (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2016), p. 273. |
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f. 33 Annunciation |

f. 68 Nativity |

f. 104v Flight into Egypt |
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f. 161v Anthony |

f. 165v Augustine |

f. 165v Augustine |
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f. 167 Catherine |

f. 171 All Saints |
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