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This Book of Hours for the Use of Rome was made in Bourges, circa 1475-1480, and is known as the "Victorines-d'Auxy Hours" after its presumed patrons, grand maître de France Geoffroy de Victorines and his wife Catherine d'Auxy. The coats of arms on fols. 7r, 13r, and 79v may be theirs. If so, this would suggest the figures kneeling before the Virgin and Child on fol. 25r as Catherine and her daughter. The manuscript was illuminated by the workshop of Jean Colombe and contains a calendar in French (fols. 1r-6v); Gospel Lessons (fols. 7r-12v); Obsecro te (fols. 13r-15v); O intemerata, lacking its ending (fols. 16r-17v); the Hours of the Virgin, lacking its beginning (fols. 18r-60r); Suffrages (fols. 61r-68v); the Hours of the Cross (fols. 69r-79r); the Hours of the Holy Spirit (fols. 79v-85v); the Penitential Psalms (lacking their beginning), Litany, and prayers (fols. 86r-96v); and the Office of the Dead (fols. 97r-127v). The first folios of the Hours of the Virgin and Penitential Psalms have presumably been removed for their miniatures. Almost every remaining folio has a foliate border, many inhabited by birds, insects, and animal hybrids. The miniature of the Virgin and Child on fol. 16r has a full panel border with an angelic choir, and the funerary scene on fol. 97r has a series of border vignettes with scenes from the life of Christ. The calendar is embellished with border vignettes showing the Labours of the Months and signs of the Zodiac, and the Suffrages with small miniatures showing each saint commemorated there. The Hours of the Cross features an unusually extensive cycle of seven large miniatures with events from the Passion of Christ, and Hours of the Holy Spirit has six large miniatures showing the Annunciation, Pentecost, and scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. The miniatures are attributed to the workshop of the prolific Bourges illuminator, Jean Colombe.
Support: Parchment; Extent: iv+128+v; 174 x 112 mm bound to 181 x 125 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto; Collation: 1 (6), 2 (8), 3 (3, +1), 4 (7, +7), 5 (8), 6 (6, +2 +3), 7-8 (8), 9 (6), 10-11 (8), 12 (7, +4), 13 (3, +3), 14 (8), 15 (2), 16-19 (8); Catchwords: Occasional horizontal catchwords in ink, lower right last verso (fols. 54v, 86v, 112v)
One column of eighteen lines; frame-ruled in faint red ink; written area: 93 x 65 mm
Bâtarde
Initials in red, blue, and gold throughout; two inhabited initials; partial foliate borders, some with animal hybrids, birds, and insects, on almost every page; full foliate borders surrounding most large miniatures, full panel borders surrounding two miniatures; twenty-nine border vignettes; twenty-six large miniatures; fifteen small miniatures
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
Paper flyleaves contemporary with seventeenth-century binding
Calendar in French
Leaves missing between fols. 17 and 18 and between fols. 80 and 81
Verses, antiphons, and responses written in smaller script
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Bourges, France
Circa 1475-1480
Seventeenth-century morocco (circa 1660-1670), probably French; gilt-tooled; contemporary marbled endpapers
Latin; Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)
Geoffroy de Victorines, grand maître de France sous Louis XI, and his wife, Catherine d'Auxy (coats of arms, lower margin fols. 1r, 13r); relatively early French owner or dealer note in ink, perhaps contemporary with binding, first upper flyleaf verso; Henri-Auguste Brölemann (1755-1854), Lyons (his octagonal label on lower left corner of inside front cover, "A 122"); Thierry Brölemann, Lyons, 1854; Arthur Auguste Brölemann (armorial bookplate, inside front cover, numbered B71 in pencil; his catalogue, 1897, p. 43, no. 90); Madame Étienne Mallet (her sale, Sotheby's, London, May 4-5, 1926, lot 54); Francis Edwards, London (bookseller); modern French owner or dealer note in pencil, second flyleaf recto; Philip S. Collins; gift of Mary Schell Collins in memory of her husband, 1945
Bourges, France
Circa 1475-1480
Latin; Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)
Geoffroy de Victorines, grand maître de France sous Louis XI, and his wife, Catherine d'Auxy
This Book of Hours for the Use of Rome was made in Bourges, circa 1475-1480, and is known as the "Victorines-d'Auxy Hours" after its presumed patrons, grand maître de France Geoffroy de Victorines and his wife Catherine d'Auxy. The coats of arms on fols. 7r, 13r, and 79v may be theirs. If so, this would suggest the figures kneeling before the Virgin and Child on fol. 25r as Catherine and her daughter. The manuscript was illuminated by the workshop of Jean Colombe and contains a calendar in French (fols. 1r-6v); Gospel Lessons (fols. 7r-12v); Obsecro te (fols. 13r-15v); O intemerata, lacking its ending (fols. 16r-17v); the Hours of the Virgin, lacking its beginning (fols. 18r-60r); Suffrages (fols. 61r-68v); the Hours of the Cross (fols. 69r-79r); the Hours of the Holy Spirit (fols. 79v-85v); the Penitential Psalms (lacking their beginning), Litany, and prayers (fols. 86r-96v); and the Office of the Dead (fols. 97r-127v). The first folios of the Hours of the Virgin and Penitential Psalms have presumably been removed for their miniatures. Almost every remaining folio has a foliate border, many inhabited by birds, insects, and animal hybrids. The miniature of the Virgin and Child on fol. 16r has a full panel border with an angelic choir, and the funerary scene on fol. 97r has a series of border vignettes with scenes from the life of Christ. The calendar is embellished with border vignettes showing the Labours of the Months and signs of the Zodiac, and the Suffrages with small miniatures showing each saint commemorated there. The Hours of the Cross features an unusually extensive cycle of seven large miniatures with events from the Passion of Christ, and Hours of the Holy Spirit has six large miniatures showing the Annunciation, Pentecost, and scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. The miniatures are attributed to the workshop of the prolific Bourges illuminator, Jean Colombe.
Paper flyleaves contemporary with seventeenth-century binding
Calendar in French
Leaves missing between fols. 17 and 18 and between fols. 80 and 81
Verses, antiphons, and responses written in smaller script
Bâtarde
Initials in red, blue, and gold throughout; two inhabited initials; partial foliate borders, some with animal hybrids, birds, and insects, on almost every page; full foliate borders surrounding most large miniatures, full panel borders surrounding two miniatures; twenty-nine border vignettes; twenty-six large miniatures; fifteen small miniatures
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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