c 1475 Book of Hours Leaf - The Last Judgment

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Original leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. 19 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Latin in on animal vellum. (175 x 125mm – 6 7/8 x 5’’)

Rubrics in red. One three-line illuminated initial in pink & white with a floral interior  on a gold ground; seven one-line illuminated initials alternating in deep blue with red penwork and burnished bold with blue penwork.

Elaborate floral border in in green, blue, orange, yellow and burnished gold.       Flanders (Ghent or Bruges?), c. 1475.

Three-quarter miniature painting of The Last Judgment: Christ is seated on an arc with right hands raised, feet resting on gold sphere; red mantle drapes around him in a manner which displays  his wounds. The Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist kneel on either side of arc with hands clasped.  Two trumpeting angels wearing red and green robes and with contrasting red and green wings are in the upper right and left. Four faces are seen rising from their earthly tombs. This image of Christ seated in judgment provided a meditational focus for the recitation of the psalms, urging sinners to repent before death. Miniatures of the last judgment are not found in all Books of Hours since "the dread with which the late medieval mind anticipated death tolerated few images representing the possible turn of events that took place after burial" (Wieck, Book of Hours in Medieval Art & Life, p. 129).

The painting begins the reading of the Seven Penitential Psalms . The three-line illuminated “D” opens Psalm 6 1-10:  “Domine…” (O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath…).

Shipped unmatted

  • Inventory# IM-13121
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