Heures à l'usage d'Angers

Octavo, parchment, II + 101 +II ;
Calendar justification: 96 x 62 mm. 16 long lines.
Text justification: 100 x 62 mm. 22 long lines, missing a miniature the Temptation of Eve opposite the Annunciation, of lauds the Visitation between ff. 27-28, missing the hours of the cross and of the Holy Spirit between ff. 32-33.
Bastarda script in black ink. Leather binding, 19th century.

175 x 115 mm.

Illuminated Rouen manuscript by Robert Boyvin, active between 1487 and 1503, and the Master of the Missal of Raoul du Fou, active at the end of the 16th century.
Hours according to the use of Angers.
Rouen, circa 1485-1495.

Text

Ff. 1-12v Calendar
Ff. 13-16v Pericopes of the 4 Gospels
Ff. 16v-19v Obsecro te, O Intemerata
Ff. 20-53v Hours of the Virgin according to the use of Angers
Ff. 54-66 Penitential Psalms followed by the litanies
Ff. 66v-88v Office of the Dead according to the use of Angers
Ff. 89-94v Prayers and the 15 Joys of Our Lady
Ff. 95-101v Suffrages of Saint Michael, Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist...

Beautiful illuminated Rouen manuscript decorated in the Hours with 11 large paintings set in rich borders and 24 miniatures illustrating the occupations of the months and the signs of the zodiac in the calendar.

Beautiful borders on a gold background adorned with white, red and blue acanthus leaves with birds and hybrid creatures.
Large initials on a gold background with white acanthus leaves on a red background. Small initials painted in gold on a blue and red background.

“Folios 13, 20, 26, 40, 43, 49, 89 of this manuscript can, based on their compositions and style, be attributed to the Rouen illuminator Robert Boyvin. His smooth landscapes with lovely bluish hills are recognizable. Robert Boyvin is a well-documented Rouen illuminator. He had a shop at the booksellers’ portal from 1487 to 1502.
The present Book of Hours belongs to group Ia (I. Delaunay, “Le manuscrit enluminés à Rouen au temps du cardinal Georges d’Amboise: l’œuvre de Robert Boyvin et de Jean Serpin”, Annales de Normandie, 45th year, no. 3, September 1995, pp. 211-244). The number of folios is around 100, the number of lines varies from 16 to 20. Robert Boyvin’s style is defined here by slender figures, solid halos, loosely worked drapery, gray interior walls, small windows, and uniform green tiling. The women and angels appear pensive. This Book of Hours, from its use of Angers, seems to have been commissioned. It is particularly close to the Sarum-use Hours, known as Playfair ff. 18, 144v and 150, which can be placed among his earliest works.
In his early works, he follows the compositions of the Master of the Rouen Échevinage.”

The calendar, ff. 45v, 50v, 54 and 66v are the work of a illuminator whom I have named the Master of Raoul du Fou. This artist also refers to the Master of the Rouen Échevinage for his compositions. All the faces are triangular, almost flattened. The eyes are strongly marked, almond-shaped, the pupils oriented towards the ground, giving them a sad and heavy look. The Virgin is easily recognizable because the illuminator uses a unique prototype: she is kneeling on the ground, a part of her mantle falling vertically to spread out in a point in the foreground. This figure can be seen in several of his works.

A finely crafted illuminated manuscript embellished with 11 large paintings and 11 miniatures due to the talent of the Master of the Missal of Raoul du Fou and Robert Boyvin.
Provenance: created on commission according to its specific use for a lady of the diocese of Angers, depicted on f. 89.
This manuscript was acquired in 1811 by General Baron de Vincent, of Austrian origin, who descended from a very old Italian family named Vincenti and lived in Bioncourt (Moselle). Baron de Vincent had the coats of arms of his direct ancestors from 1218 up to himself in 1810, as well as those of their wives’ families, carefully illuminated in the margins.