c 1474-5 Breviary Leaf - Use of Autun - Isaiah, St Bede Homily

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Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Breviary.  31 lines written in Latin in double columns with dark brown and red ink on animal vellum. (183 x 135mm – 7 3/8 x 5 ¼’’). Full margins retain evidence of pinprick guide marks.

Ten two-line illuminated initials alternating in red and white or blue and white, with a floral or geometric interior - all on a burnished gold ground, most extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux border in red, blue, green, yellow and burnished gold.                     

France (Use of Autun), c. 1474-75.

This leaf continues prayers for the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Mary. The two-line illuminated “I” through the two-line illuminated “E” includes text from Isaiah 19: 19-23: “In illa die erit altare…” ( In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord at the borders thereof…).  

The two-line illuminated “I”  begins Luke 1:39-40: “In illo tempore exurgens autem maria…” (At that time Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth).

The two-line illuminated “L” begins a homily on Luke, Chapter 2, by the Venerable  Bede “Lextio…quam modo audivimus et redemptionis nostre…”.  St. Bede (c. 673-735) was an English Benedictine monk and first English historian. His Historica Ecclesiastica is the single most valuable source for the history of the period.

Provenance:  from a Breviary written for the Use of Autun c. 1474-75; property of the descendants of Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet of Pitsligo (1739-1806) from the Library at Fettercairn House, Kindardineshire; sold at Sotheby’s London Dec 2016, subsequently dispersed.

A Breviary is composed of many books (prayers, hymns, psalms...) painstakingly but carefully written by hand, and used by monks and priests to conduct their daily services.  The painted and illuminated manuscript is among the greatest artistic triumphs of the Middle Ages, demonstrating social, intellectual, religious and cultural attitudes of medieval life.

A lovely leaf in impeccable preservation from an elegant breviary of extremely high quality, beautifully scribed on fine thin vellum. The extensive red rubrics are visually appealing. 

Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat

  • Inventory# IM-12812
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