Hours of Catherine of Cleves - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (Morgan Library and Museum, now divided in two parts, M. 917 and M. 945, the latter sometimes called the Guennol Hours or, less commonly, the Arenberg Hours) is an ornately illuminated manuscript

Illuminated manuscript

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...

in the Gothic art

Gothic art

Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...

style, produced in about 1440 by the anonymous Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

artist known as the Master of Catherine of Cleves. It is one of the most lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the 15th century and has been described as one of the masterpieces of Northern European illumination. This book of hours

Book of Hours

The book of hours was a devotional book popular in the later Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and...

contains the usual offices, prayers and litanies in Latin, along with supplemental texts, decorated with 157 colorful and gilded illuminations. Today, both parts of the manuscript that forms this book are housed at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, U.S.A.

Origin

The Hours of Catherine of Cleves

Catherine of Cleves (1417-1479)

Catherine was Duchess of Guelders. The Hours of Catherine of Cleves was commissioned for her.-Family:Catherine was the daughter of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and Marie of Burgundy. She was a niece of Philip the Good.-Book of Hours:...

(The Hours) was commissioned for Catherine, Duchess of Guelders

Guelders

Guelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.-Geography:...

and Countess of Zutphen, upon the occasion of her marriage to Arnold, Duke of Guelders

Arnold, Duke of Guelders

Arnold of Egmond was Duke of Guelders, Count of Zutphen. He was son of John II of Egmond and Maria van Arkel....

, on 26 January 1430. Dr. John Plummer, Curator of Medieval Manuscripts at the Morgan Library, suggested that this Horae was commissioned for the wedding in 1430, but it required time to complete. The Hours was produced in Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

and not completed until after 1434, probably around 1440. The earlier date is based on the picture of a coin, minted in 1434 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, shown in the border of M. 917, p. 240; Plummer, Plate 117.

Patrons

The Hours was commissioned for Catherine of Cleves by either her father or her husband. Since the 11th century, the town of Cleves had been the home of the venerable and wealthy Counts of Cleves. The Counts were elevated to a ducal house in 1417, the year Catherine was born. The Cleves family seat is the Schwanenburg, the Swan Castle, with its massive square tower, the Schwanenturm, the Tower of the Knights of the Swan, which is immortalized in Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

's opera, Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...

.

The first two full page miniatures celebrate her illustrious lineage. The first page shows Catherine of Cleves kneeling before the Virgin and the Christ Child, who take a personal interest in her salvation. Catherine is identified by her arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

, in the center bottom, shown with those of her husband, Duke Arnold of Guelders. The borders of both pages are decorated with an heraldic display of the Arms of her eight great-great grandfathers:

Count Diderik of Cleves,

Count Engelbert of Mark,

Duke Ludwig of Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

Duke Ludwig of Liegnitz,

King Jean the Good of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

Duke Lodewijk of Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

Duke Wilhelm of Julich

Jülich

Jülich is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Jülich is well known as location of a world-famous research centre, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and as shortwave transmission site of Deutsche Welle...

, and

Duke Otto of Ravensberg.

Catherine of Cleves is shown kneeling before The Virgin and the Christ Child, M. 945, folio 1 verso; Plummer, Plate 1. She is shown giving alms in Piety
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...

, the sixth gift of the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...

, M. 917, p. 65; Plummer, Plate 57. Catherine is also shown kneeling, with the Virgin, before Christ, in The Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

, M. 917, p. 160; Plummer, Plate 96. Her husband, Arnold, Duke of Guelders, may be the lord shown kneeling before Christ in Fear of the Lord, the seventh gift of the Holy Spirit, M. 917, p. 58; Plummer, Plate 58. In the reconstructed book, his portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

follows that of Catherine’s in Piety. And, some of his coinage is shown in the border of M. 917, p. 240; Plummer, Plate 117.

Artist

The Master of Catherine of Cleves was the anonymous illuminator, who is named after this masterpiece of Netherlandish illumination. The Cleves Master might have been a member of the van Aken family of painters

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

. A study of the miniatures indicates that the Cleves Master designed and painted over 157 miniatures, as well as the principal border decorations, with minimal assistance from two workshop assistants.

The Hours have several anomalies. Hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

was usually not depicted in Books of Hours, though normal in the Last Judgements in churches, because the sight was thought unwelcome to the often female patrons. The Master’s Mouth of Hell at the beginning of the Office of the Dead

Office of the Dead

The Office of the Dead is a prayer cycle of the Liturgy of the Hours in the Roman Catholic Church, said for the repose of the soul of a decedent. It is the proper reading on All Souls' Day for all souls in Purgatory, and can be a votive office on other days when said for a particular decedent...

actually shows three animal mouths: an uppermost stone-like portal, framed by souls boiling in pots, screams in agony; a lower mouth grimaces, its lips drawn apart by demons; and within that lower mouth, a fire-red creature opens its own jaws. The surrounding tableau of demons tormenting the souls of the dead was painted nearly 50 yrs before Hieronymus Bosch painted his. Marginal genre scenes clearly relate to the religious scenes in the main miniatures above. Details of the book, such as traps and nets in borders, relate very closely to details in the Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin

Robert Campin

Robert Campin , now usually identified as the artist known as the Master of Flémalle, is usually considered the first great master of Early Netherlandish painting...

(or a follower), and suggest strongly that the master knew works by Campin. Stories flow through the pictures: a woman watches a man die, weeps, then goes on a pilgrimage; souls within Hell dine upon the Host, and are rescued by an angel. There is little repetition, and the miniatures form a harmonious whole.

Antithesis and unusual iconography

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...

conveys irony and humor. Saint James the Less

James the Less

James the Less is a figure of early Christianity. He is also called "the minor", "the little", "the lesser", or "the younger", according to translation. He is often confused with James the Great and may or may not be James the Just.- Sources :...

was known for his abstinence, so the border depicts men drinking wine. Saint Gregory

Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...

, the great Church administrator, is shown with a border of gold and silver coins. Saint Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

is painted with the key of the Church, standing above a triskelion

Triskelion

A triskelion or triskele is a motif consisting of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs, or any similar symbol with three protrusions and a threefold rotational symmetry. Both words are from Greek or , "three-legged", from prefix "τρι-" , "three times" + "σκέλος" , "leg"...

(a reference to the Trinity

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

) of fresh fish as the fisher of men. Saint Lawrence

Saint Lawrence

Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.- Holy Chalice :...

is shown with the grill of his martyrdom, and the alms purse attribute as the patron of the poor. His border shows fresh fish ready for grilling, and the big fish eating the little fish, representing the rich devouring the poor, a common 15th-16th century literary and pictorial theme. 30 years later, these fantastic trompe l’oeil borders were to influence the work of the Master of Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 until her death...

.

The Cleves Master was a superb realist who showed scenes of 15th century Utrecht, especially in the small bas-de-page pictures. The Holy Family

Holy Family

The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph.The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Roman Catholic Church in honor of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family...

at dinner shows Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

wearing clogs and spooning gruel

Gruel

Gruel is a food preparation consisting of some type of cereal—oat, wheat or rye flour, or rice—boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk than eaten and need not even be cooked...

, while reclining in a barrel chair in front of a lively fire. The Virgin is seated on the other side of the fire, suckling Jesus in her neat, orderly kitchen.

By reconstructing The Hours from the two principal manuscripts, one can see the Master grow as an artist over the several years it took to illuminate The Hours. The early miniatures and iconography are comparable to the contemporary panel painting

Panel painting

A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel made of wood, either a single piece, or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, it was the normal form of support for a painting not on a wall or vellum, which was used for...

s of Robert Campin

Robert Campin

Robert Campin , now usually identified as the artist known as the Master of Flémalle, is usually considered the first great master of Early Netherlandish painting...

and Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....

, and share many close similarities. The later miniatures are painted with the imagination, originality, and vibrant colors that characterize Early Netherlandish painting

Early Netherlandish painting

Early Netherlandish painting refers to the work of artists active in the Low Countries during the 15th- and early 16th-century Northern renaissance, especially in the flourishing Burgundian cities of Bruges and Ghent...

and the later developments of that tradition. This originality of technique and awareness of everyday life prompted Delaissé to call the Cleves Master "the ancestor of the 17th century Dutch school of painting."

Modern period

After disappearing from view for some 400 years, the Hours of Catherine of Cleves surfaced in 1856. Jacques Joseph Techener, a Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian book dealer, offered The Hours for sale at 15,000 francs. At some time before 1896, Prince Charles d’Arenberg

Arenberg

Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a historic county, principality and finally duchy located in modern Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian aristocratic family.- History :...

purchased The Hours (M 945); or rather, he bought half of The Hours.

In 1963, Frederick Adams was offered another Cleves Master Horae (M 917) by an un-named European owner. A comparison of this discovered book with the Guennol Hours (M 945) revealed that not only were they by the same artist, and from the same workshop, but both Horae were incomplete and complemented each other. This observation suggested that they were once a single volume, which had been deliberately disassembled into two separate liturgical book

Liturgical book

A liturgical book is a book published by the authority of a church, that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.-Roman Catholic:...

s. Scholars believe that sometime in the 1850s, The Hours was separated into two volumes, and several leaves were removed. Microscopic examination revealed that some of the rubrics had been deliberately erased, so the leaves could be reassembled without a tell-tale break in the text. The two volumes have been recovered; but, the 9-12 missing leaves are presumed lost.

In 1970, the Guennol Hours (M.945) was purchased by the Pierpont Morgan Library through the Belle da Costa Greene Foundation, with additional assistance of various Library Fellows. By studying the text, the iconography, and the physical makeup of the two volumes, Dr John Plummer, Morgan Library Curator of Medieval Manuscripts, reconstructed the original sequence of the original, single volume of the Hours of Catherine of Cleves.

In connection with a 2010 exhibition entitled “Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves,” the Morgan Library disbound the two volumes to display 93 of the illuminations in their original order. After the show which ends on May 2, 2010, the library will rebind the book with the leaves in their proper order.

Provenance

Catherine, Duchess of Guelders, for whom it was made, 1440–1445 (single volume)

Ermengard of Lochhorst, who allegedly received it from Catherine

Disappeared for 400 years

Jacques Techener, Parisian Book dealer, 1856 (divided into 2 volumes: M 945, M 917; and missing leaves)

M917

Baron Maurice de Rothschild

Rothschild banking family of France

The Rothschild banking family of France was founded in 1812 in Paris by James Mayer Rothschild . James was sent there from his home in Frankfurt, Germany by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...

, 1936 (M 917)

Frederick Adams, Bookseller, discovers another Cleves Master Horae, 1963 (M 917)

Morgan Library and Museum, purchased 1963 (M 917)

M945

Prince Charles d’Arenberg, purchased before 1896 (M 945)

Duchess Julie d’Arenberg (M 945)

Duke Engelbert d’Arenberg (M 945)

Duke Engelbert-Marie d’Arenberg exhibited as the Arenberg Hours in Düsseldorf, 1904 (M 945)

Hans P. Kraus, Bookseller, 1958 (M 945)

Alistair Bradley Martin (Guennol Collection), 1958 (M 945)

Exhibited at the Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam or simply Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, located on the Museumplein. The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history. It has a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and a substantial collection of Asian art...

as the Guennol Hours, 1958 (M 945)

Hans P. Kraus, Art Dealer, 1970 (M 945)

Morgan Library and Museum, purchased 1970 (M 945)

Description

The book is a Gothic manuscript and book of hours, illuminated by the Master of Catherine of Cleves, and at least two assistants, in Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

ca. 1440. The book is now bound in two volumes:

M 945 = Vellum

Vellum

Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...

, 193 leaves, 7½ × 5⅛ inches (192 × 130 mm), with 63 miniatures, bound in 19th c. red velvet

Velvet

Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...

.

M 917 = Vellum, 328 leaves, 7½ × 5⅛ inches (192 × 130 mm), with 94 miniatures, in a 19th century binding, with spine marked Heures de Catherine de Cleves / Martyrologie. There are an estimated 9 to 12 leaves missing,
based on the series of saints in the Suffrages. Saint Quirinus

Saint Quirinus

Saint Quirinus may refer to:* Quirinus of Neuss * Quirinus of Rome , also known as 'Quirinus of Tegernsee', relics at Tegernsee Abbey.* Quirinus of Sescia...

, Saint Margaret

Margaret the Virgin

Margaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch , virgin and martyr, is celebrated as a saint by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20; and on July 17 in the Orthodox Church. Her historical existence has been questioned; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I in 494,...

and two other saints are missing; at least five to eight other leaves are missing, too. The text is Latin in a Gothic script with black and red ink, by a single scribe; there are catchwords and rubricator’s notes in other hands.

Books of hours were extremely popular in the late medieval times, and by the date of these hours the most common vehicle for lavish illumination. The books were intended for regular use, by lay people, who wished to structure their devotional life. Observing the canonical hours

Canonical hours

Canonical hours are divisions of time which serve as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. A Book of Hours contains such a set of prayers....

centered upon the recitation, or singing, of a number of psalms, which are accompanied by prayers, specified by the eight hours of the liturgical day.

The core text of a Book of Hours is the Little Office of the Virgin, illustrated by scenes from the Life of the Virgin

Life of the Virgin

The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the number of scenes shown varies greatly with the space...

. This series of hourly prayers were prayed to the Mother of God, who co-mediates and sanctifies the prayers to God. The Penitential Psalms

Penitential Psalms

The Penitential Psalms or Psalms of Confession, so named in Cassiodorus's commentary of the 6th century AD, are the Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 . These are specially expressive of sorrow for sin. Four were known as 'penitential psalms' by St. Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century...

were recited to help one resist temptation of committing any of the Seven Deadly Sins

Seven deadly sins

The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...

. The prayers in the Office of the Dead

Office of the Dead

were prayed to shorten the time a loved one spent in Purgatory

Purgatory

Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...

. Supplementary texts were added to celebrate any personal patron, family saint, special circumstances, or a fortuitous event. This standard pattern of daily prayer provided the framework for the artists' efforts.

This book contains:

A Calendar of feast days,

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

The Hours of the Cross,

The Hours of Eternal Wisdom,

The Office for the Dead,

The Seven Penitential Psalms,

Various Litanies and Prayers,

A series of seven Offices for each day, with an accompanying Mass; and

The Suffrages, a Memorial of the Saints.

Decoration

These volumes come from a period when luxury books of hours for the wealthy were produced for their artistic and decorative effect. The artist chose an unusually wide variety of subject matter for his border illuminations. He decorated his borders with beautiful trompe l’oeil depictions of nature: mussels, fruit, birds, fish, and more. The Master also depicts man-made beauty, such as jewelry, tiles, coins, and furniture. These border decorations would greatly influence the Master of Mary of Burgundy. The Cleves Master was familiar with the details of humble tasks such as milking a cow, selling wine, and baking bread. In spite of the humble occupations depicted in the miniatures and borders, the luxurious details of wealth and elegance dominate the miniatures, to emphasize that this book was made for an aristocrat

Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

ic client. Ingenious theological links between the subjects of the main images and the objects in the borders have been suggested by some scholars, though many of these are not generally accepted.

The Cleves Master's originality is in the trompe l'oeil

Trompe l'oeil

Trompe-l'œil, which can also be spelled without the hyphen in English as trompe l'oeil, is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions.-History in painting:Although the phrase has its origin in...

effects, and in the still life

Still life

A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...

borders. For example, a border of pretzels and wafers encircles Saint Bartholomew, mussels enclose Saint Ambrose, and a rosary

Rosary

The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

frames the Adoration of the Magi. Meiss observed that these pages are constructed so that the reader views the border through a magnifying glass and the miniature through a telescope. The Hours uses framing as a means to encourage viewers to think of themselves as participants with God in creating sacred time. The human figure appears flexible and articulate. The Master handles distance by graduated scale and diminishing clarity. The artist's increasing skill in depicting these realistic features can be traced from the start to the finish of this book.

As a whole, the Cleves Master’s decorations concentrate on the great themes of late medieval theology and piety: the Trinity, Christ, the Cross, the Virgin, the Saints, death, salvation, and eternal life. The standard pattern of these devotional prayers provided the framework for the Cleves Master’s efforts. The challenge to the artists of his day was to apply their utmost skill in devising sumptuous pictures, which were fresh and delightful, but fully compliant with religious conventions and the expectations of their noble clients.

Reproductions

In 1964, the Morgan Library produced an 83-page catalogue, The Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves, for the Cleves Hours exhibit held at the Library. Both the cloth and paperback editions contained 30 black and white plates, plus 2 color plates, accompanied with commentaries by Dr. John Plummer, Curator of Mediaeval Manuscripts at the Pierpont Morgan Library. Frederick B. Adams, Jr, wrote the Foreword, which incorporated comments by Harry Bober, L. M. J. Delaissé, Millard Meiss, and Erwin Panofsky.

In 1966, the publisher, George Braziller, produced a full color, partial facsimile

Facsimile

A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...

. All 157 of the miniatures were reproduced in color with gold. Three text pages of prayers were reproduced in color. The 160 facsimile pages were accompanied with notes and commentaries by Dr. John Plummer. This book was issued as a 359-page leather, or leatherette, hardback volume in a slipcase.

A cloth hardback edition was issued in 1975. And, in 1980, the publisher, George Braziller, produced a paperback facsimile of this book.

In 2002, George Braziller published a third edition as a 360-page hardback. All 157 of the miniatures and three text pages were reproduced in color with gold. Dr. Plummer includes a new foreword, along with the 1966 edition Introduction and commentaries, accompanying each facsimile page.

In conjunction with a 2010 exhibition of the manuscript, the Morgan Library prepared a complete digital facsimile of the miniatures and any facing text pages.

Use

The Hours of the Virgin are those for use of the Augustinian canons of the Windesheim chapter

Congregation of Windesheim

The Congregation of Windesheim was a branch of the Augustinians. It took its name from an Augustinian monastery about four miles south of Zwolle on the IJssel, in the Netherlands....

. The Office of the Dead is also that for Windesheim use, which is the same as for Utrecht.

The Hours of Catherine of Cleves is still relevant today as a devotional text. Karlfried Froehlich, Princeton Theological Seminary, makes a statement about the modern usage of books of hours:

"In their imaginative use of traditional iconography the artists put us in touch with a wealth of theological tradition that had developed over centuries and had marked with its symbols the meditative road into the depth dimension. Behind the pictures in these volumes we meet not only the theology of an individual Christian but also a theology expressive of the collective witness of many generations who drew their strength from the contemplation of the realities to which their symbols pointed. There is nothing that could prevent a miniature from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves from becoming an effective help of Christian meditation today."

External links

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