DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22423#0125
Letter XXIV.
MSS. WITH MINIATURES.
113
spear. The heads of the Virgin and St. John are very pleasing.
Below are four figures rising from the grave. The ground is red,
with golden squares. Finally, the Office for the Dead, in the usual
style, with blue ground and golden squares.
A Prayer-book of some noble lady, duodecimo, probably executed
in Paris about 1420-1430. This is a rich specimen. Two artists'
hands are distinguishable here, one of which is very remarkable. The
calendar occupies twelve leaves ; it contains the sign of the zodiac
and the occupation of the month within that Gothic framework
which so often occurs in the works of Giotto. The decorations
which surround every page in the book are essentially in the older
taste, with coloured and golden leaves with black outlines. On
the plainer pages these are mingled with beautifully-coloured and
softer flowers, and, where pictures occur, the new style entirely
prevails. The small pictures are treated in the idealistic style,
with beautiful heads and soft folds of drapery ; while in the very
lively and even gaudy colours of the draperies, and in the land-
scape backgrounds with pointed green trees, the newer realistic
manner is discernible. The first picture, St. John the Evangelist, is
of good motive, noble in expression, and very delicate in execution ;
the flesh-tones yellowish. The Virgin enthroned, with the Child,
is of very slender proportions, noble in conception, and with a
delicate character of head. After the Visitation another and infe-
rior hand appears. Later in the work, and especially among the
numerous saints, the first hand recurs. In one picture, before the
standing figure of the Virgin and Child, is a kneeling lady, the
patroness of the book. The text below contains that prayer so
much in vogue, especially in Paris, during the middle ages, begin-
ning, " Douce Dame de Misericorde." The cover is ornamented
with elegant silver hasps, on which are pleasing reliefs executed
about 1600.
The Apocalypse, folio, 123 leaves, written in a powerful minus-
cule letter of Belgian character in two columns. This was exe-
cuted, as appears from the armorial bearings on p. 13 a, below, for
Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and
apparently at about the same period as the already-described
treatises in the Bodleian Library (Douce, No. 365), before or
during the year 1475. At all events, the somewhat numerous
pictures similarly executed in chiaroscuro, and here and there
slightly coloured, are obviously by the same artist. The decora-
VOL. III. I
MSS. WITH MINIATURES.
113
spear. The heads of the Virgin and St. John are very pleasing.
Below are four figures rising from the grave. The ground is red,
with golden squares. Finally, the Office for the Dead, in the usual
style, with blue ground and golden squares.
A Prayer-book of some noble lady, duodecimo, probably executed
in Paris about 1420-1430. This is a rich specimen. Two artists'
hands are distinguishable here, one of which is very remarkable. The
calendar occupies twelve leaves ; it contains the sign of the zodiac
and the occupation of the month within that Gothic framework
which so often occurs in the works of Giotto. The decorations
which surround every page in the book are essentially in the older
taste, with coloured and golden leaves with black outlines. On
the plainer pages these are mingled with beautifully-coloured and
softer flowers, and, where pictures occur, the new style entirely
prevails. The small pictures are treated in the idealistic style,
with beautiful heads and soft folds of drapery ; while in the very
lively and even gaudy colours of the draperies, and in the land-
scape backgrounds with pointed green trees, the newer realistic
manner is discernible. The first picture, St. John the Evangelist, is
of good motive, noble in expression, and very delicate in execution ;
the flesh-tones yellowish. The Virgin enthroned, with the Child,
is of very slender proportions, noble in conception, and with a
delicate character of head. After the Visitation another and infe-
rior hand appears. Later in the work, and especially among the
numerous saints, the first hand recurs. In one picture, before the
standing figure of the Virgin and Child, is a kneeling lady, the
patroness of the book. The text below contains that prayer so
much in vogue, especially in Paris, during the middle ages, begin-
ning, " Douce Dame de Misericorde." The cover is ornamented
with elegant silver hasps, on which are pleasing reliefs executed
about 1600.
The Apocalypse, folio, 123 leaves, written in a powerful minus-
cule letter of Belgian character in two columns. This was exe-
cuted, as appears from the armorial bearings on p. 13 a, below, for
Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and
apparently at about the same period as the already-described
treatises in the Bodleian Library (Douce, No. 365), before or
during the year 1475. At all events, the somewhat numerous
pictures similarly executed in chiaroscuro, and here and there
slightly coloured, are obviously by the same artist. The decora-
VOL. III. I