Book of Hours by the Master of the Coronation of the Virgin
Available
France
1400 - 1500
Books of Hours

Book of Hours by the Master of the Coronation of the Virgin

Use of Paris

  • Master of the Coronation of the Virgin

Manuscript in Latin with French prayers on vellum

France, Paris, c. 1400-1405

183 x 128 mm

Price on request.

218 leaves. 14 large miniatures in square compartments. Full-length ivyleaf borders on every page, many including dragons in upper or lower margins. Complete. Modern blue velvet binding. Very good condition.

This manuscript is a beautiful and complete Book of Hours illuminated by the Master of the Coronation of the Virgin, one of the principal protagonists of Parisian courtly illumination around 1400.

Active for only a brief period, between approximately 1400 and 1404, the artist worked for the most prestigious patrons of his age, including Philip the Bold and Jean de Berry, and was responsible for some of the most celebrated luxury manuscripts produced for the Valois courts.

Long unseen for decades, the present Book of Hours preserves a refined cycle of fourteen large miniatures displaying the artist’s characteristic fusion of naturalistic observation and courtly elegance. Particularly remarkable is the manuscript’s sophisticated chromatic conception, in which richly coloured compositions alternate with delicately modulated semi-grisaille miniatures in a visually inventive rhythm.

The monumentality of the illumination fully justifies the longstanding attribution to the Master of panel paintings and confirms the manuscript as an outstanding example of Parisian painting at the very beginning of the fifteenth century.

Certain miniatures, above all the Man of Sorrows on fol. 162r, attain through their monumentality the character of small panel paintings and testify to the altogether exceptional quality of the artist. This miniature in particular, by virtue of its expressive quality, raises the question of whether it represents an especially inspired creation by our painter, or whether it should rather be associated with another major master of the period, one perhaps to be connected with the first painter working in the Livre de la chasse of Gaston Phébus, in Paris (BnF, ms. fr. 616).

Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century depicting a miniature of the Virgin Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child traveling to Egypt on a donkey.
f. 71r The Flight into Egypt
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the coronation of the Virgin Mary.
f. 77v The Coronation of the Virgin
Illuminated medieval manuscript page with a miniature depicting the harrowing of hell, with lost souls being swallowed by a monster.
f. 83r The Harrowing of Hell
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
f. 101r The Crucifixion
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting a funeral service.
f. 114v A funeral service
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child on a throne.
f. 156v The Virgin and Child enthroned
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the visitation with the pregnant Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth meeting.
f. 43r The Visitation
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the holy trinity, God the father, his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.
f. 108r The Holy Trinity
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the annunciation of the birth of the messiah to the shepherds.
f. 63r The Annunciation to the Shepherds
Illuminated medieval manuscript page from the 15th century with a miniature depicting the presentation of the Christ Child in the temple.
f. 67r The Presentation in the Temple

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