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Book of Hours of Marguerite de Foix

Manuscript
1471-1476 (made)
Artist/Maker
De Foix, Marguerite (patron)
Place of origin
France (made)
Rennes? (made)

Foliation: parchment. i-v (original 15th-century parchment, ff.ii-v ruled for text) + 228 ff.

Number of lines: 15 lines.

Language: Latin and French.

Script: lettre bâtarde.

Textual content:
ff. 1r-6v: Calendar, full, in French, of conventional Parisian aspect. Major feasts in burnished gold.
ff. 13r-21v: Gospel pericopes (ff. 13r-14v: John; ff. 15r-17r: Luke; ff. 17v-19v: Matthew; ff. 20r-21v: Mark).
ff. 22r-27r: Prayer to the Virgin.
ff. 27v-32v: Prayer to the Virgin.
ff. 33r-98r: Hours of the Virgin, Use of Paris, with rubrics in Latin.
ff. 99r-124r: Penitential Psalms with litany followed by petitions.
ff. 125r-134r: Hours of the Cross.
ff. 135r-143r: Hours of the Holy Spirit.
ff. 144r-199v: Office of the Dead, Use of Paris.
ff. 200r-222r: Suffrages.
ff. 223r-225v: Prayers added on a separate gathering.
f.227v: Prayer added in a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand.

Decoration: 12 miniatures in the calendar representing the occupation associated with each month, i.e. harvesting in July and slaughtering pigs in December (ff. 1r, 2r, 3r, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7r, 8r, 9r, 10r, 11r, 12r). Each is also accompanied by an illumination of the corresponding zodiacal signs.
12 full page miniatures with one scene from the Old Testament (Moses on f. 135v) and the rest from the New Testament (e.g. birth of the Virgin, Flight to Egypt, Pentecost, Passion, Last Judgment etc. - ff. 33r, 47r, 60v, 68r, 73v, 78v, 84r, 92r, 99r, 125r, 135r, 144r). Most are composite images but some are unified compositions comprising several incidents to form a narrative (ff. 60v, 73v, 84r, 99v, 125r).
23 half-page miniatures representing the Apostles, Virgin, Holy Trinity or Saints (ff. 13v, 15r, 17r, 20r, 22r, 27v, 200r, 201r, 202r, 203r, 204r, 206r, 208r, 209r, 210v, 211v, 213r, 214v, 215v, 216v, 217v, 219v, 221r).
2 small miniatures are integrated into the text (ff. 21v, 222r).
The manuscript also comprises foliated border ornaments, line endings and letter-shape initials.

Binding: ca. 1470s, France. Calf over wooden boards bevelled from the outside, blind-stamped with nine tools (four-petal rosette within a circle and a cross, dragon’s head, heart surmounted by an open three-pointed crown, 2-legged and crouched dragon, standing rabbit, running 4-legged dragon, fleur-de-lys between two stars, sitting hare, running dogs). Spine of eight compartments, each with the stamp of a diamond-shaped tool at the centre. Sewn on seven double thongs of white leather, attached to the boards with channels and plugs.

Object details

Categories
National Art Library
Books
Manuscripts
Medieval and Renaissance
Books of Hours
Object type
Manuscript
TitleBook of Hours of Marguerite de Foix
Materials and techniques
Ink, pigments and gold on parchment. Leather binding over wooden boards.
Parchment
Ink
Pigments
Gold
Calf Leather
Wood
Illumination
Brief description
Manuscript, Book of Hours for the use of Paris, known as the 'Marguerite de Foix Hours', France (Rennes?), ca. 1471-1476.
Physical description
Foliation: parchment. i-v (original 15th-century parchment, ff.ii-v ruled for text) + 228 ff.

Number of lines: 15 lines.

Language: Latin and French.

Script: lettre bâtarde.

Textual content:
ff. 1r-6v: Calendar, full, in French, of conventional Parisian aspect. Major feasts in burnished gold.
ff. 13r-21v: Gospel pericopes (ff. 13r-14v: John; ff. 15r-17r: Luke; ff. 17v-19v: Matthew; ff. 20r-21v: Mark).
ff. 22r-27r: Prayer to the Virgin.
ff. 27v-32v: Prayer to the Virgin.
ff. 33r-98r: Hours of the Virgin, Use of Paris, with rubrics in Latin.
ff. 99r-124r: Penitential Psalms with litany followed by petitions.
ff. 125r-134r: Hours of the Cross.
ff. 135r-143r: Hours of the Holy Spirit.
ff. 144r-199v: Office of the Dead, Use of Paris.
ff. 200r-222r: Suffrages.
ff. 223r-225v: Prayers added on a separate gathering.
f.227v: Prayer added in a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand.

Decoration: 12 miniatures in the calendar representing the occupation associated with each month, i.e. harvesting in July and slaughtering pigs in December (ff. 1r, 2r, 3r, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7r, 8r, 9r, 10r, 11r, 12r). Each is also accompanied by an illumination of the corresponding zodiacal signs.
12 full page miniatures with one scene from the Old Testament (Moses on f. 135v) and the rest from the New Testament (e.g. birth of the Virgin, Flight to Egypt, Pentecost, Passion, Last Judgment etc. - ff. 33r, 47r, 60v, 68r, 73v, 78v, 84r, 92r, 99r, 125r, 135r, 144r). Most are composite images but some are unified compositions comprising several incidents to form a narrative (ff. 60v, 73v, 84r, 99v, 125r).
23 half-page miniatures representing the Apostles, Virgin, Holy Trinity or Saints (ff. 13v, 15r, 17r, 20r, 22r, 27v, 200r, 201r, 202r, 203r, 204r, 206r, 208r, 209r, 210v, 211v, 213r, 214v, 215v, 216v, 217v, 219v, 221r).
2 small miniatures are integrated into the text (ff. 21v, 222r).
The manuscript also comprises foliated border ornaments, line endings and letter-shape initials.

Binding: ca. 1470s, France. Calf over wooden boards bevelled from the outside, blind-stamped with nine tools (four-petal rosette within a circle and a cross, dragon’s head, heart surmounted by an open three-pointed crown, 2-legged and crouched dragon, standing rabbit, running 4-legged dragon, fleur-de-lys between two stars, sitting hare, running dogs). Spine of eight compartments, each with the stamp of a diamond-shaped tool at the centre. Sewn on seven double thongs of white leather, attached to the boards with channels and plugs.

Dimensions
  • Height: 185mm
  • Width: 120mm
  • Text block calendar height: 82mm
  • Text block calendar width: 48mm
  • Text block height: 80mm
  • Text block width: 45-48mm
Closed: Length 184 x Width 125 x Depth 74mm Open: Width 230 x Height 130 x Depth 184mm
Production typeUnique
Credit line
Bequeathed by George Salting in 1910
Object history
(1) Illuminated and perhaps written in Brittany (Rennes?) between 1471 and 1477 for François II, duke of Brittany (b. 1435) and his second wife, Marguerite de Foix (d. 15 May 1487). Erased arms of the Brittany and Foix appear on ff. 21v, 47r and 222r).
(2) Given by Hippolyte d'Argenté, President of Enquêtes of the Parlement of Rennes from 1602, to Claude Dumolinet (1620-1687), librarian of the abbey of St Geneviève, Paris, from 1675 as recorded in two inscriptions on ff. 228r and f.i recto.
(3) Collection Frederic Spitzer, lot 3015 of the 1893 sale.
(4) Collection of George Salting (1836-1909), bequeathed to the V&A in 1910 (no. 1022).
Bibliographic references
  • La collection Spitzer, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Renaissance. 6 vols. Paris, 1892. vol. V with notices of manuscripts by Léopold Delisle and Auguste Molinier. pp. 137-138, no. 13
  • Burlington Fine Arts Club. Catalogue. 1908, pp. 106-107, no. 217; pl. 136.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Guides. The Salting Collection. with 16 illustrations. London, 1911. p. 38
  • Victoria and Albert Museum. A guide to the Salting Collection. London, 1926. p. 40
  • Ker, N.R. Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries I. Oxford: 1967. p. 338
  • Harthan, J.Books of Hours and their owners. London, 1977. pp. 122-125
  • König, E. Französische Buchmalerei um 1450. Der Jouvenal-Maler, der Maler des Genfer Boccaccio und die Anfänge Jean Fouquets. Berlin, 1982. pp. 120, nos 328, 253.
  • Watson, R. 'The Margaret de Foix Book of Hours'. The V&A Album, 2, 1983, pp. 44-60.
  • La Bretagne au temps des ducs, catalogue of an exhibition held at the Abbey de Daoulas, June-Oct. 1991, and Musée Dobrée, Nantes, Nov. 1991-Feb. 1992, Daoulas, 1991, pp. 66-67, no. 68.
  • Randall, L. M.C.Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. vol. II, parts 1 and 2, France 1420-1540. Baltimore, 1992. part. 2, 1992, p. 237, cat. no. 147 (Walters MS W. 250)
  • Avril, F. and Reynaud, N., Les Manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440-1520, Paris, 1993. p. 175.
  • Watson, R. Illuminated manuscripts and their makers. An account based on the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. London, 2003. pp. 102-103
  • Cassagnes-Brouquet, S. La Passion du livre au moyen âge. Rennes, 2003, pp. 74-75.
  • L'Estrange, E. 'Anne peperit Mariam, Elizabeth Johannem, Maria Christum: images of childbirth in late-medieval manuscripts'. In Manuscripts in Transition. Recycling manuscript, texts and images, ed. B. Dekeyzer and Jan Van der Stock. Paris, Louvain and Dudley, 2005, pp. 343, 344, 346, no. 42.
  • Avril, F. ' Les copies à repetition. A propos de la circulation et de la dissémination des modèles'. In Tributes to Jonathan J.G. Alexander, ed. S. L'Engle and G. B. Guest. London and Turnhout, 2008, p. 131.
  • L'Estrange, E. Holy Motherhood. Manchester, 2008, pp. 219-234, 257-259.
  • Townsend, E. Art and death, Europe 1200-1500. London, 2009, p. 61.
  • Booton, D. E. 'The book trade in and beyond the Duchy of Brittany'. In The culture and political legacy of Anne de Bretagne, ed. C.J. Brown. Cambridge, 2012, pp. 13-14.
  • L'Estrange, E. 'Penitence, motherhood and Passion devotion'. In The culture and political legacy of Anne de Bretagne, ed. C.J. Brown, Cambridge, 2010, pp. 92, 93, 97.
  • Booton, D. E. Manuscripts, markets and the transition to print in late medieval Brittany. Farnham, 2010, pp. 78, 79, 94, 152, 163, 319.
  • Watson, R. Western Illuminated Manuscripts.Victoria and Albert Museum. A catalogue of works in the National Art Library from the eleventh to the early twentieth century, with a complete account of the George Reid Collection. London, 2011. vol. 1, pp. 301-311, cat. 53.
Other numbers
  • KRP.A.29 - NAL Pressmark
  • 1222 - Salting Bequest
  • 38041800148835 - NAL barcode
Collection
National Art Library
Library number
MSL/1910/2385 (Salting 1222)

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Record createdAugust 23, 2018
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1458900/book-of-hours-of-marguerite-manuscript-de-foix-marguerite/
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