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  • Zg64v112d?file=thumbnail
    Date: 1475~
    Contributing Institution: Mount Angel Abbey Library
    Description: Of the various centers of illumination in northern France during the late fifteenth century, Rouen was undoubtedly the most productive source for lavishly decorated Books of Hours. Large numbers of these manuscripts betray a homogeneous but elegant standard of production less inclined to originality than conspicuous display. The unrestrained use of mat gold paint, the introduction of stock donor portraits, and a rather precious figure style are typical features of the Rouen school. We can infer that division of labor within workshops was especially common by this time as a means of meeting the inflated demand for prayerbooks. Two sets of donor portraits appear in this manuscript, one included in the original stages of production — a young woman in prayer in the Pietà with a knight kneeling in the border (135r). Such figures are of a general, anonymous type and indicate a book offered for sale on the open market. The knight’s armor was modified to bear the insignia of the arms accompanying the second set of donors added shortly after. The second pair is located beneath the Annunciation (13r). Curiously, the Annunciation itself contains two additional figures (one crowned with a coronet) behind the Virgin and Gabriel. The implications of this odd variation in a standard subject are unclear.
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  • Ks65hs366?file=thumbnail
    Date: 1420/1425
    Contributing Institution: Mount Angel Abbey Library
    Description: The strength of Parisian influence during the late 14th and early 15th centuries drew talented illuminators from many outlying regions. The influx of masters from the north, especially Flanders, helped bring about distinctive changes in French style — the mixture of Gothic elegance with emerging currents of an earthy naturalism. The spiraling ivy vines of gold and refined page design in this manuscript are counterpointed by an often course figure style and blunt realism that typify the personalized devotional imagery in Burgundian regions. A subject such as God the Father in Majesty (74r), portrayed in an elegant hieratic style, contrasts with the simple rusticity of the Adoration of the Magi (50r). The color scheme tends to rich blues, mauve, and orange. Dour facial expressions, heavy-lidded eyes, and decorative backgrounds associate this manuscript with the workshops of the Boucicaut and Egerton Masters active in Paris during the early decades of the 15th century.
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  • 6969zd930?file=thumbnail
    Date: 1520?
    Contributing Institution: Mount Angel Abbey Library
    Description: By the turn of the sixteenth century manuscript illumination was well into its final phase. and-made Books of Hours had to compete with less expensive printed editions available in large numbers by this time. The richly illuminated vellum codex had become a pretense in an era of rapidly changing values. Here the miniatures are set in architectural borders that overtly define the frame as a window opening into space. The figures are repetitive and graceless, but colorfully rendered and highlighted in gold. The style and calendar point to northern France, possibly the flourishing school of Rouen. St. Hunna (April 15), included in the calendar, was only canonized in 1519. Hence the manuscript may have been written after that date, late in the first quarter of the century.
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  • 00000c63j?file=thumbnail
    Date: 1475/1495
    Contributing Institution: Mount Angel Abbey Library
    Description: The courtly, decorative style of northern France tends increasingly to approach the book as an ornament. Dazzling displays of gold and jewel-like colors enliven the miniatures and border designs. Borders are commonly divided into compartments with alternating background.
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  • 0p096n181?file=thumbnail
    Date: 1525~
    Contributing Institution: Mount Angel Abbey Library
    Description: This Book of Hours is illustrated in a style which is a successful blending of Italian and Northern influences. The miniatures are set in architectural frames and typical is the division of the picture-space into two sections by a descriptive scroll. The total number of illustrations, large and small, is 35.
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