Stony Brook University Libraries Digital Projects and Exhibits

Items

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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 50. The following text is taken verbatim from the information card, written by Ege: This beautiful manuscript leaf was written and illuminated about the year 1535 A.D. At this late date Books of Hours were also being printed in great numbers by such famous French printers as Vostre, de Colines, and Tory. These were elaborately illustrated and frequently hand-colored. The cursive gothic script used in this leaf, with its boldly accented letters and flourished initials, borrowed heavily from the decorative chancery or legal hands of the XIIIth and XIVth centuries.
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 16th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 48. "In the middle of the [15th] century this whole area [the Netherlands and Northern France] was interested in naturalism and made its illustrations so vivid that sometimes they approached those of our seed catalogues. It is not difficult to recognize carnations, pansies, columbines, and strawberries" (Ege). "When such flowery decorations are found on a rather heavy piece of vellum, entangled with the swirling acanthus leaf and accompanied by a heavy lettre de forme script, one can be fairly safe in assigning the leaf to the province of Brabant."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 47. "In assigning this leaf from a Book of Hours to the Netherlands it must be remembered that some sections of the country were once part of France, while others belonged to what is now Germany. In this leaf French characteristics predominate, but in no other country did the study of nature have a more direct influence on miniatures and ornamentation than in the Netherlands. Carnations, pansies, columbines, and many other flowers were faultlessly and realistically drawn" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 46. "The laymen who ordered and purchased theses books would at times stipulate the style of ornament and the amount of burnished gold to be used, and could even, to a certain extent, select the saints they esteemed most and wished to glorify. In this example, the border reveals by its wayside flowers entangled with the heavy acanthus motif of the North and by the use of the "wash" gold that it was executed in Northern France about 1475 A.D." (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 45. "This manuscript leaf came from a Book of Hours, sold probably at one of the famous shrines to which wealthy laymen made pilgrimages. To meet the demand for these books, the monastic as well as the secular scribes produced them in great numbers. The freely drawn, indefinite buds here entirely supplant the ivy, fruits, and realistic wayside flowers which characterized the borders of manuscripts of the preceeding half century. The initial letters of burnished gold on a background of old rose and blue with delicate white ine decorations maintain the tradition of the earlier period. The vellum is of silk-like quality that often distinguished the manuscripts of France and Italy" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 36. "Books of Hours, beautifully written, enriched with burnished gold initials, and adorned with miniature paintings, were frequently the most treasured possessions of the devout and wealthy laymen" (Ege). "Books of this small size, two and one-half by three and one-half inches, are comparatively rare. The craftsmanship in this example imitates and equals that in a volume of ordinary size, about five to seven inches. Recently, these small "pocket" editions have been given the nickname "baby manuscripts."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Writings of St. Jerome (Sanctus Hieronymus, Contra Jovinianum)

  Leaf 35. "Jerome, the father of the Latin Church and translator of the Bible, shows in his writings his active participation in the controversies of his day (c. 332 to 420 A.D.)" (Ege). "This fine book hand, lettre de somme, obtained its name from the fact that Fust and Schoeffer used a type based on it for the printing of their Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas in 1467." "Simplicity and dignity are maintained by omitting all enrichment around the burnished gold letters.The first printed books followed the practice seen here of marking off by hand and with a stroke of red the capitals at the beginning of each sentence. Fifteenth century ink frequently had a tendency to fade to a gray tone as in this example."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Gradual: Graduale

  Leaf 32. "The suberb example of calligraphy in this leaf illustrates the supremacy of the Italian scribes of the time over those of the rest of Europe. It is frequently assumed that this late revival of fine writing may have been caused by the concern of scribes over the impending competition with the newly invented art of printing. The music staff still retains here the early XIIth century form with the C-line colored yellow and the F-line red. The four-line red staff had been in use for over two centuries before this manuscript was written" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 31. "The first printed and illustrated Book of Hours appeared in 1486. It was a crude work, but later noted printers such as Verard, Du Pre, Pigouchet, and Kerver issued in great numbers Books of Hours with numerous illustrations and rich borders. The decorations were frequently hand colored and further embellished with touches of gold" (Ege). "By this time the ivy spray had a variety of forms. It might be seen springing from an initial letter, from the end of a detached bar, in a separate panel in company with realistic flowers, or forming a three- or four-sided border intermixed with acanthus leaves and even birds, animals, and hybrid monsters which are neither man or beast."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 30. "The text of a Book of Hours consists of Gospels of the Nativity, prayers for the Canonical Hours, the Penitential Psalms, the Litany, and other prayers. The beauty of the rich borders found in some of these books frequently claims our attention more than the text. In these borders it is easy to recognize the ivy leaf and the holly, but is usually more difficult to identify the daisy, thistle, cornbottle, and wild stock" (Ege). "Because of the translucency of the vellum, the flowers, stems, and leaves of the border were carefully superimposed on the reverse side in order to avoid a blurred effect."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 29. "The treatment of the [manuscript's] ivy spray with the single line stem and rather sparse foliage is characteristic of the work of the French monastic scribes about the year 1450. The occasional appearance of the strawberry indicates that the illuminating was done by a Benedictine monk. Fifty years earlier the stem would have been wider and colored, and the foliage rich; fifty years later the ivy would be entangled with flowers and acanthus foliage" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 28. "This Book of Hours shows definite characteristics of the manscript art of France and the Netherlands of about 1450 A.D. It was probably one of the many copies prepared for sale at a shrine to which devout pilgrims came to worship or to seek a cure. The spiked letters and the detached ornamental bar are unmistakably Flemish in spirit, while the free ivy sprays are distinctively French. The burnished metal in the decorations shows the use of alloyed gold (oro di meta) as well as silver" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Missal: Missale

  Leaf 26. "The fact that this Missal honors particular saints by its calendar and litany indicates that it was made by friars of the Franciscan order. This was established in 1209 by St. Francis" (Ege). "This leaf, with its well written, pointed characters and decorative initial letters, has lost some of its pristine beauty, doubtless through occasional exposure to dampness over a period of 600 years.The green tone is more frequently found in English manuscripts than in French. However, the ornament and miniature on the opening page of the manuscript definitely indicate that it is of French origin."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 25. "In the earlier periods there was generally a harmonious unity between the spirit of the ornament and the character of the writing. This unity is exemplified in this leaf. The three-lobed, gracefully drawn symmetrical fronds of leaves in the ornament are usually accepted without question as representing the ivy plant. In the Middle Ages many magical and medicinal qualities were attributed to this plant" (Ege). "Some pages of this manuscript book show the effect of having been exposed to dampness."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 24. "This particular Book of Hours, a devotional prayer book for the layman, was made for the use of Sarum, the early name of Salisbury, England. This text was accepted throughout the province of Canterbury. This manuscript was written about the time Chaucer completed his Canterbury Tales, but evidently by a French monk, who might have been attached as was often the case, to an English monastery. Again, the book could have been specially ordered and imported from abroad. The initial letter and the coloring and the treatment of the ivy are unmistakably French" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Breviary: Breviarium

  Leaf 23. "While the script of this leaf is almost certainly French, the initial letters and filigree decoration might easily be of Italian workmanship, and the greenish tone of the ink suggests English manufacture. The dorsal motif in the bar ornament is again decidely French, and the lemon tone of the gold is a third indication of French origin" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Hymnal: Hymnarium

  Leaf 21. "Much of the material incorporated in the hymnals was based on folk melodies. Hymns, like the other chants of the Church, varied according to their place in the liturgy" (Ege). "The initial letter design of this leaf persisted with little or no change for a long period, but the simple pendant spear was used as a distinctive motif for not more than twenty-five years."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 20. "Small Psalters of this period are comparatively rare, since Pslaters were used primarily in the church services and not by the layman. Here, the letters and ornament still retain all the rigidity of the previous century and give no indication of the rounder type of letter or any beginning of the interest in nature that characterized the work of the scribes in France. The filigree decoration, as well as the line-fishing elements, show, however, more creative freedom than either the initial or the text letters" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Vulgate Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  Leaf 19. "The rich black lettering of this manuscript is in the transitional rotunda script and is executed with skill and beauty. It is supplemented by initial letters of ultramarine blue and deep cinnabar (vermilion), which colors are reflected in the ornament of romanesque capitals. All of these factors combine seem to indicate that the manuscript was executed in central Italy, possibly at Florence" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 17. "Illuminated Psalters occur as early as the VIIIth century, and from the XIth to the beginning of the XIVth century they predominate among illuminated manuscripts." "At this time the pendant tails of the initial letters are rigid or only slightly wavy, with a few leaves springing from the ends" (Ege). "The blue and lake (orange-red) color scheme with accents of white is a carry-over from the Westminster tradition which prevailed in the previous century.The solid line-filling ornaments of the verses were a new feature added in the second half of the XIIIth century. Silver and alloys of gold are used on this leaf."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Breviary: Breviarium

  Leaf 16. "Brevaries were seldom owned by laymen. They were service books and contained the Psalter with the versicles, responses, collects and lections for Sundays, weekdays, and saints' days. Other texts could be included. A Breviary, therefore, was lengthy and usually bulky in format. Miniature copies like the one represented by this leaf were rare" (Ege). "This manuscript was written on a fine uterine vellum, i.e., the skin of an unborn calf."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Missal: Missale Bellovacense

  Leaf 15. "This manuscript, a special gift to a church in the city of Beauvais, was written for Robert de Hangest, a canon, about 1285 A.D." (Ege). "The ornament of this leaf shows the first flowering of Gothic interest in nature. The formal hieratic treatment is here giving way to graceful naturalism. The ivy branch has put forth its first leaves in the history of ornament. The writing, likewise, is departing from its previous rigid character and displays and ornamental pliancy which harmonizes with the decorative initials."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  Leaf 14. "This copy of the Latin version by St. Jerome was made during the period when France stood at the height of her medieval glory" (Ege). "The bar borders came to be exectued in rich opaque gouache pigments, with ultramarine made of powdered lapis lazuli predominating. The foliage scroll work inside the inital frame created a style that persisted with little or no change for nearly two hundred years."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 12. "This small Psalter leaf illustrates the fact that, although skilled scribes were available in many monasteries in the XIIIth century, some of the monks who attempted to apply and burnish the gold leaf were still struggling with many problems of illumination. The famous treatise De Arte Illuminandi and Cennino Cennini's Trattato were both of a later date. These works gave directions on how to prepare and use the glair of egg, Armeninan bole, stag-horn glue, and hare's foot, and on how to burnish gold with a suitable wolf's tooth" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 10. "The line endings of a fish, elongated or shortened as the space required, and the grinning expression of the fish emblem have in some book circles given these German Psalters the nickname "Laughing Carp" Psalters" (Ege). "The lozenge heads on top of many of the vertical pen strokes are characteristic of German manuscripts."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.