File:Book of Hours, Use of Rome (Collins Hours) (IA 1945 65 4).pdf

Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1945‑65‑4. Bruges?, Flanders?, Circa 1445-1450. This manuscript is a mid-fifteenth century Book of Hours for the Use of Rome, probably made in Flanders for a female patron. It is elaborately illuminated in a combination of French and Flemish styles by an artist known from this manuscript as the Collins Master. It contains twenty-six full-page illuminations with full borders inhabited by twisting human figures and angels undertaking actions related to the content of the large miniatures and with matching full borders on the facing text pages. The text begins with an unillustrated calendar (fols. 1r-12v) and is followed, somewhat unusually, by the Hours of the Cross (fols. 14r-26r), which is illustrated with eight full-page miniatures illustrating Christ's Passion from the Arrest through to the Harrowing of Hell (the miniature for Sext opposite fol. 19r is missing). The Gospel Lessons (fols. 28r-36v) are illustrated by four full-page miniatures each showing an Evangelist. The Mass of the Virgin follows (fols. 38r-42v), introduced by a full-page miniature of the Virgin and Child. The Hours of The Virgin (fols. 44r-105v) is fully illustrated by full-page miniatures for each section. The Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Prayers (fols. 108r-127v), the Office of the Dead (fols. 129r-169r), O intemerata (fols. 171r-172v), and Obsecro te (fols. 174r-176v) are each introduced by a full-page miniature. The three prayers that follow, the Stabat Mater, a prayer to the Crucifix, and a prayer to Saint Francis, each lack their corresponding miniatures (opposite fols. 177r, 179r, and 181r); an excised miniature from this manuscript, which may have faced the Stabat Mater, was sold in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 14 November 1975, lot 41. The Suffrages (fols. 183-187r) are illustrated with full-page miniatures and are dedicated to Saint Catherine, Mary Magdalene, and Saint Susanna, the latter illustrated by a scene representing Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery (fol. 186v). An inscription inside the front cover records the correction of the manuscript at the instruction of the Inquisition in 1579, and text has been crossed out in two places (fols. 99r, 176v).