Black Book of Hours of Charles the Bold
The black book of hours of Charles the Bold , Duke of Burgundy , is in Vienna . It represents the highest level of luxury in the field of illumination and is the most beautiful surviving example of a special category of books of hours that were briefly fashionable at the court of Burgundy during the last years of the duchy as a powerful buffer state between Germany and France .
description
- Liturgy of Rome, Flanders , Bruges , around 1466–1476. 25 × 18 cm, 154ff.
- Calendarium - illustrations , 14 large miniatures , figurative and ornamental initials , richly decorated borders with medallions .
- Austrian National Library , Vienna
In the case of black or mourning lesson books, the text was written in gold and silver letters on black or purple colored parchment leaves . In the case of the Viennese copy, the color acid attacked the parchment in such a way that the sheets are individually stored between glass. Nobody will be able to pick up and use this book the way it was intended.
The pages shown are from the gospel excerpt , which is at the beginning. The miniature on the left shows the four evangelists sitting together in an elongated room, the walls of which are shown in the wrong perspective , but still give the impression of spaciousness and depth. They are shown tipping their pens or writing on their knees, their utensils spread out on the table in the foreground.
The first words of John's Gospel , “In principio erat verbum.” - “ In the beginning was the word ”, begin on the text side with a large, flower-shaped initial . On the side John is shown on the island of Patmos , below is the pictorial representation of a Flemish proverb .
Executive artist
Only the most skilled artists could overcome the limits set by the black color. This included the anonymous Flemish painter known as the “Master of Anthony of Burgundy” who illustrated this over-refined prayer book.
history
Charles the Bold, son of Philip the Good , ruled as the last Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. He has been associated with a considerable number of books of hours, especially black ones. The most beautiful must have been the one that the Swiss captured in the famous robbery of Burgundy after the Battle of Grandson . It had been depicted as written in gold letters on purple parchment and bound in crimson , gold-embroidered velvet . But it is not among the loot now in Bern . In 1477 the book was offered for sale, but did not find a buyer. In 1480 the city authorities sent it to Pope Sixtus IV , but the book is not in the Vatican Library , one must assume that it has disappeared.
Two black books of hours have stood the test of time, both now in Vienna. These are the Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy and the Black Prayer Book of Charles the Bold discussed here (also called the Sforza Book of Hours after the last owner ). The question is how this book came into the early but brief possession of Galeazzo Maria Sforza , Duke of Milan (1466–1476).
When Karl presented this book to Galeazzo Maria as a gift, it did not stay long in Milan. In 1494, Galeazzo's daughter Bianca Maria married Archduke Maximilian of Austria , ruler of the Netherlands , who had been a widower since the death of his first wife Maria of Burgundy in 1482 . So the book came back to the north.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Antoine van Schryver: Prayer Book of Charles the Bold vel potius Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy. Codex Vindobonensis 1857 of the Austrian National Library. 2 volumes. Facsimile. Academic printing and publishing establishment, Graz 1969 ( Codices selecti 14).
- ↑ Florens Deuchler : The Burgundy Booty. Inventory of the booty from the battles of Grandson, Murten and Nancy, 1476/1477. Stämpfli, Bern 1965.
literature
- The black book of hours of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. In: John Harthan: Books of hours and their owners. German translation by Regine Klett. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1977, ISBN 3-451-17907-5 , pp. 106-109.
