Master of the Beauchamp Book of Hours
As Beauchamp Master ( Engl. Beauchamp master ) or Master of the Beauchamp-hour book is the book painters called the in the late Middle Ages for the English noble family of Beaufort has painted around 1430 a book. It is now in the British Library in London. Since it was probably first used as a book of hours by the wife of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset , Margaret Beauchamp, Duchess of Somerset , it is usually generally listed in art history as the Beauchamp Hours.
The book, illuminated by the artist, who is not known by name, consists of two sections, prayers in Latin , which are then followed in a second part by the actual book of hours with commemorative days. The coloring, i.e. the creation of the book, can be assumed between 1430 and 1440 on the basis of entries on family memorial days and a note on the death of Queen Catherine de Valois in the book of hours part. Because of the entries on birthdays, weddings or deaths of the medieval Beaufort family, the book is also referred to as the Beaufort / Beauchamps-Hours (English Beaufort / Beauchamps-Hours). The first part of the book probably came from a first commission from John Beaufort and was then placed in front of Margret's actual book of hours.
Among the 13 full-page illustrations for the prayers in the first part of the book is an Annunciation scene , which is considered a masterpiece of medieval Gothic book illumination in England in the 15th century. The illustrations in the second part of the book are somewhat inferior to this high level of artistry, but this second part is an example of how female members in wealthy families could use the book of hours with text and images to learn to read and then for private devotion. In two images of the Annunciation in the Book of Mary, the mother of Jesus is shown with an open book, signs that her reading and learning were interrupted by the arrival of the angel and his message of the coming birth of Christ . For wealthy women in the Middle Ages, like Margret Beauchamp, the reading Maria was an indication that they too could strive for some practical learning alongside their families. It is believed that one of the images of the Annunciation shows Margaret in devotion to the scene and that the book later came into the possession of her daughter.
The work of the master of the Beauchamp Book of Hours has so far been little researched from an artistic point of view.
Individual evidence
- ↑ London, British Library, MS Royal 2.A.XVIII
- ↑ see K. Scott: Later Gothic Manuscripts. 1390-1490. 1996, p. 127 f.
- ↑ cf. Rebecca Krug: Reading families. Women's literate practice in late medieval England. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY et al. 2002, ISBN 0-8014-3924-8 .
literature
- Margaret Rickert: The So-Called Beaufort Hours and York Psalter. In: The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 104, No. 711, 1962, ISSN 0007-6287 , pp. 238-246.
- Kathleen L. Scott: Later Gothic Manuscripts. 1390-1490 (= A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles. Vol. 6). 2 volumes (Textbd. Tafelbd.). Harvey Miller, London et al. 1996, ISBN 0-905203-04-6 .
- Kathryn A. Smith: Art, identity and devotion in fourteenth-century England. Three women and their books of hours. British Library et al., London et al. 2003, ISBN 0-7123-4830-1 .
