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On display

Leaf from a Book of Hours

Manuscript Cutting
1450s (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This miniature once marked the beginning of the Suffrage to St Giles in a Parisian book of hours. Suffrages were prayers to saints and an important component of these prayer books. St Giles was born in Athens in the mid-7th century; later he lived as a hermit in a forest between Arles and Nîmes in the south of France. The Golden Legend, a famous work containing the lives of the saints, recounts how he survived on milk from a tame doe. One day the king, while out hunting, wounded both the deer and St Giles. This is the scene depicted here in the lower border. In penance for this action, he built a monastery of which Giles became the abbot. This is the famous monastery of St Gilles-du-Gard, near Arles, which was to become an important place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.
The main miniature shows another scene recounted in a 10th-century life of St Giles. According to this source, an angel came down from heaven while the saint was celebrating a mass for the pardon of Emperor Charlemagne’s sins, and delivered a document revealing a sin Charlemagne had never dared confess. Here, Charlemagne is depicted kneeling in prayer behind the saint who is standing at the altar, with his hands joined. An angel is coming down holding a scroll with an inscription outlining that Giles is seeking pardon for Charlemagne.
Three more leaves from this manuscript are in the Museum’s collection, all coming from the book’s Suffrages section.
The scenes in this manuscript are attributed to the Dunois Master, once known as 'The principal associate of the Bedford Master'. The Bedford Master took his name from two outstanding manuscripts made for John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford and brother of Henry V, victor at Agincourt in 1415. The Bedford Master's style was widely practised in Paris. The Dunois Master appears to have adopted most closely the painting style and models of the Bedford Master.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleLeaf from a Book of Hours (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Water-based pigments, gilding and ink on parchment
Brief description
Leaf from a Book of Hours with half-page miniature showing a scene from the life of St Giles by the Dunois Master; France (Paris); ca 1440-1450
Physical description
Recto: Rubric: De sancto egidio An[tiphona]'.
Verso: Suffrage to St Giles, introduced by a half-page miniature in demi-grisaille showing St Giles standing at an altar in a church, his hand raised to his cheek. Charlemagne wearing an imperial crown kneels in prayer behind him, an attendant stands by. Chalice on the altar and altarpiece. A horizontal scroll above the saint's head probably bore an inscription with his name. An angel comes down from heaven, holding a scroll with the inscription 'Egidii merito Karoli peccata dimicto'.
In the border: St Giles in a Franciscan habit stands, holding a red book. An archer has shot an arrow into his breast. A hind prances by his side. Marginal decoration of acanthus, fruit and flowers
2-line decorated initial S.
Text: Suscipientes beati Egidii solemnia celebrantes tibi summe pater grates atque...
12 lines.
Dimensions
  • Height: 125mm
  • Width: 90mm
  • Written area height: 65mm
  • Width: 45mm
Gallery label
(24/03/2018)
LEAVES FROM A BOOK OF HOURS
Illuminated by the Dunois Master About 1440-1500

These leaves were once part of a bound Book of Hours, in a section devoted to prayers to a number of saints. On the left-hand leaf is a prayer to St Giles and on the right to St Julian. Both are accompanied with scenes from their lives.

France, Paris
Ink on parchment, with pigment and gold
Museum nos. E.4582, 4583-1910
Object history
Probably made in the 1450s for a member of the Jouvenel des Ursins family (see Reynaud, Avril, 1993).
Collection of Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890): his sale, 17 April 1893, lot 3269. Collection of George Salting (1835-1909): acquired with the George Salting Bequest in 1910.
Leaves from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: E.4580-1910, E.4581-1910, E.4582-1910, E.4583-1910.
Other leaves from the same manuscript in other collections: Side wound of Christ, Paris, Musée Marmottan, Wildenstein Collection, M6190 (formerly Ms. 149). Unlocated leaves: Angels and instruments of the Passion (Spitzer, lot 3263), St Barbara (Spitzer, lot 3264), Crucifixion (Spitzer, lot 3265), St Donatian and St Rogatian (Spitzer, lot 3266), St Mandé (Spitzer, lot 3271; Ferrini, Sam Fogg 1989, no. 27 (Hindman)), Entombment (Spitzer lot 3272; Ferrini, Sam Fogg 1989, no. 26 (Hindman); last seen on the market: Sotheby's, London, 6 July 2010, lot 19), St Germanus of Auxerre (Spitzer, lot 3273; Ferrini, Sam Fogg 1989, no. 26 (Hindman)), Baptism of Christ and Beheading of St John the Baptist (Spitzer, lot 3274; Ferrini, Sam Fogg 1989, no. 28 (Hindman)), St Dominic burning pagan books (Spitzer, lot 3275), St Joachim, St Anne and the Virgin (Spitzer, lot 3276), Deposition and Pietà (Spitzer, lot 3277), St Christopher (Spitzer, lot 3278), Burial scene (Sotheby's, 17 June 1997, lot 27).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This miniature once marked the beginning of the Suffrage to St Giles in a Parisian book of hours. Suffrages were prayers to saints and an important component of these prayer books. St Giles was born in Athens in the mid-7th century; later he lived as a hermit in a forest between Arles and Nîmes in the south of France. The Golden Legend, a famous work containing the lives of the saints, recounts how he survived on milk from a tame doe. One day the king, while out hunting, wounded both the deer and St Giles. This is the scene depicted here in the lower border. In penance for this action, he built a monastery of which Giles became the abbot. This is the famous monastery of St Gilles-du-Gard, near Arles, which was to become an important place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.
The main miniature shows another scene recounted in a 10th-century life of St Giles. According to this source, an angel came down from heaven while the saint was celebrating a mass for the pardon of Emperor Charlemagne’s sins, and delivered a document revealing a sin Charlemagne had never dared confess. Here, Charlemagne is depicted kneeling in prayer behind the saint who is standing at the altar, with his hands joined. An angel is coming down holding a scroll with an inscription outlining that Giles is seeking pardon for Charlemagne.
Three more leaves from this manuscript are in the Museum’s collection, all coming from the book’s Suffrages section.
The scenes in this manuscript are attributed to the Dunois Master, once known as 'The principal associate of the Bedford Master'. The Bedford Master took his name from two outstanding manuscripts made for John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford and brother of Henry V, victor at Agincourt in 1415. The Bedford Master's style was widely practised in Paris. The Dunois Master appears to have adopted most closely the painting style and models of the Bedford Master.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • La collection Spitzer, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Renaissance. 6 vols. Paris, 1890-1892. vol. V with notices of manuscripts by Léopold Delisle and Auguste Molinier. Vol. 2, p. 524, no. 5.
  • Burlington Fine Arts Club: Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts, London: printed for the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1908. no. 220.
  • Catalogue of Miniatures, Leaves, and Cuttings from Illuminated Manuscripts. Victoria and Albert Museum. Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, by S.C. Cockerell and C. Harcourt Smith (London: HMSO, 1923, 2nd edition). p. 66.
  • Hindman, S., Medieval and Renaissance Miniature Painting, Bruce Ferrini Rare Books, Sam Fogg Rare Books & Manuscripts, London and Akron (OH), 1988. no. 25-28, pp. 50-7 and 123-7.
  • Avril, F. and Reynaud, N., Les Manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440-1520, Paris, 1993. p. 37 (N. Reynaud).
  • Marrow, J., The Hours of Simon de Varie, Malibu, 1994, pp. 17, 98 n. 21'
  • Reynaud, N., Jean Fouquet: Les Heures d'Etienne Chevalier, Dijon: Faton, 2006. pp. 180, 216.
  • Kidd, K., 'Paths to Grace Exhibition Catalogue, 1991', 12 November 2016, in Medieval Manuscripts Provenance blog [accessed 24/11/2023].
  • Clark, G.T., Art in a Time of War, Toronto, 2016. pp. 270-8.
Other number
1229 - Salting Bequest
Collection
Accession number
E.4582-1910

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Record createdDecember 10, 2003
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