Book of Hours (Florence): Initial 'D' [omine] with the Madonna and Child (fol. 8v - 9)

Artist/Maker

DatesMade: Made ca 1440

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 11,7 x 8,3 cm

Inventory numberNMB 2011

AcqusitionPurchase 1971 funded by Hjalmar and Anna Wicanders fund and Alfhild Lundins fund

Other titlesLabel (sv): Tidebok (Florens): Initial 'D' [omine] med Madonnan och barnet (fol. 8v - 9) Label (sv): Tidebok (Florens): Kristus på korset (fol. 56v – 57) Label (en): Book of Hours (Florence): Initial 'D' [omine] with the Madonna and Child (fol. 8v - 9) Title (en): Book of Hours (Florence): Christ on the Cross (fol. 56v – 57) Inventory title (sv): Illuminerad bönbok Alternative title: Horae ad usum romanum

DescriptionDescription: NMB 2011 A Book of Hours from the Birgittine Monastery of Santa Maria del Paradiso in Florence. [Florence, 1425-1449] Catalogue raisonné: NMB 2011 A Book of Hours from the Birgittine Monastery of Santa Maria del Paradiso in Florence. [Florence, 1425-1449] Physical Description MATERIAL: Parchment. BINDING: Green leather binding with gold tooling, from the 18th century. DIMENSIONS: 116 x 83 mm (pages)/159 x 124 x 47 mm (binding). NUMBER OF LEAVES: 190ff. FOLIATION: 15 lines of text. RULING: None LANGUAGE: Latin. SCRIPT: Italian rotunda. RUBRICATION: Red, blue, and red/blue fleuronné rubrics. Text Fol. 2-7: Calendar. Fol. 9-56: Hours of the Virgin Mary. Fol. 57-77: Hours of the Cross. Fol. 79-95: The penitential psalms with litany. Fol. 96-129r: Office of the Dead. Fol. 129v-145: Extract of the Revelations of St Birgitta. Fol. 145-158: Prayers for St Birgitta. Fol. 159-176r: Hours of the Holy Spirit. Fol. 176v-190: Office of St Birgitta and other prayers. Decoration A calendar, four full page miniatures, three historiated initials and other embellished initials and marginal decorations. Fol. 8v: Miniature of the Annunciation. The Virgin Mary stands in a doorway of a Renaissance building while the Angel Gabriel kneels in front of her. Fol. 9r: Initial D(omine) with an image of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child. Fol. 35v: Initial D(omine) with Christ giving the sign of blessing. Fol. 56v: Miniature of the Crucifixion. Christ is on a Y shaped cross which stands alone on a rock. Above the Cross is a bar saying I.N.R.I. Fol. 78v: Miniature of King David in prayer. Fol. 79r: Initial D(omine) with an image of King David in prayer. Fol. 96: Miniature of Death as a skeleton standing between two steep rock faces. Fol. 129v: Initial B(enedicta) with an image of St. Birgitta. Provenance 1. Written in Italy, in Florence for the Birgittine Monastery of Santa Maria del Paradiso, in the second quarter of the 15th century. 2. Frances Althea Trevor (1848-1910). 3. Sold by her niece J. G. K. Williams of Trawscold at Christie´s 1961. 4. Purchased in 1971 for the Nationalmuseum from Thulins antikvariat, Stockholm. Exhibited 1. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter, December 1987-March 1988. Commentary This Book of Hours is a typical Florentine work from the second quarter of the 15th century. A number of Birgittine feasts appear in the calendar section of the manuscript. Furthermore, there are several Birgittine texts as well as an image of Saint Birgitta herself. All these elements point to the Book of Hours being made for the Birgittine monastery Santa Maria del Paradiso in Florence. The full-page miniatures were painted on empty folios, however not by Giotto as someone has written on the inside of the book covers in the 18th century. The image of Christ with his legs crossed and with four spikes can be found in St Birgitta’s Revelationes (IV, 70). The Y-formed cross may have been inspired by the procession cross that under the plague year of 1399 was born by the Bianchi Brotherhood in Florence and can be seen in Santa Croce. Bibliography Abel, Ulf, and Nils Göran Hökby (eds.), Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1987), no. 57, p. 54. Andersson, Aron, St. Birgitta and the Holy Land (Stockholm: Museum of National Antiquities, 1973), pp. 124-127. Andersson, Aron, ‘Birgitta och Michealangelo’ in Den iconografiske Post, 2, (1974), pp. 5-9. Nordenfalk, Carl, Bokmålningar från medeltid och renässans i Nationalmusei samlingar (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1979), no. 33, pp. 118-121. Reuterswärd, Patrik, Jesu liv i kunsten (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1973), p. 97. Rossholm, Margareta, ‘Birgittinsk ikonografi’ in Svenska Dagbladet, 15th June, 1972. Sandgren, Eva Lindqvist, Illuminated Manuscripts in Swedish Collections, https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/resultList.jsf?dswid=7830&p=1&searchType=EXTENDED&sortString=creationYear_sort_asc&noOfRows=10&af=%5B%22ARCHIVE_ORG_ID_facet%3A67%22%5D&query=&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22HOST%22%3A%22alvin-record%3A471052%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D Research project 2022-2023, Illuminated Manuscript, Christian Etheridge, Art Historian

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialParchment