Hours of Henry Iv of France
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Travesera de Gracia, 17 -21 08021 Barcelona - Spain Tel. UK +44 (0) 20 7193 4986 USA 1305 831 4986 ES (+34) 932 402 091 www.moleiro.com Hours of Henry IV www.moleiro.com/online facebook.com/moleiro of France youtube.com/moleiroeditor • Shelf mark: Latin 1171 This book of hours is so magnificent that riod, the large initials are painted white A text in keeping with tradi- • Date: Late 15th – early 16th century (?) its royal owner, Henry IV of France, asso- with purple highlights. In addition, the tion • Provenance: Paris ciated himself with it by having his arms lavish iconographic cycle with its purple In all other respects, the 180 pages in this • Size: 225 × 155 mm stamped on its front and back covers. and golden highlights, consisting of more manuscript embody all the most tradition- • 180 pages, 60 full-page grisaille Over the centuries, the manuscript was than sixty paintings inspired by the New al features of the book of hours typical of miniatures, 16 small pen-and-ink safeguarded in the royal collections, first Testament, is a rare – and remarkable – that period, i.e. a calendar, Gospel lessons, miniatures at the Louvre Palace and then, from 1720 example of grisaille illumination from the prayers to the Virgin, the Passion accord- • Bound in brown onwards, in the King’s Library. turn of the 16th century. Finally, the calen- ing to St John, the Hours of the Virgin, dar, and also the four small scenes of the the Hours of the Holy Ghost, the Peniten- Unusual iconography Passion set inside the columns of text, are tial Psalms and litanies, the Office of the It is obvious upon opening this manu- illustrated with line drawings upon a gild- Dead and the Suffrages of the Saints. script, that it is a unique and outstanding ed ground. Finally, as was the norm in all books work, a manuscript that literally shines To learn more about its attribution, of hours dating from the Middle Ages with a thousand lights – the least one can we must rely on what the many images and the Renaissance, the text is written in say about a codex whose every page of text themselves can tell us. According to art black and the headings in red. The saints’ has a gilded ground. The margins are del- historians, the style is very similar to that names in the calendar are written in alter- icately and stylishly decorated with foli- of the atelier of Jean Pichore, a prolific nating red and black ink. age motifs. Another rare and surprising Parisian illuminator influenced by Jean element occurring on several occasions is Bourdichon and Jean Poyer. François where the letters of the alphabet are used Avril is of the opinion that one artist in to fill the borders. this atelier has distinguishing features that But these are not the only unusual can be recognised in several manuscripts elements. Unlike the custom in that pe- including the one under study here. .