Book of hours by Bénigne Serre
| Book of hours by Bénigne Serre | |
|---|---|
| Repository | Private collection |
| origin | Dijon |
| material | parchment |
| scope | 179 sheets |
| format | 145 × 85 mm |
| Time of origin | 1524 |
| language | Latin, French |
The book of hours was commissioned by Bénigne Serre , a high functionary of the king, and was created in 1524. The painter comes from the environment of the 1520 workshop . The 26 full-page miniatures were designed in a particularly elaborate manner.
Description of the codex
The manuscript contains 145 pictures, including 26 full-page miniatures . The different sized initials are from one to three lines high. Each page of the text is surrounded by colored, contoured gold leaf strips below, above and towards the fold, while a wider border delimits the text field on the outside. The text was written in a bastarda with black, blue, red and gold inks. The binding is a French calfskin leather binding from the last quarter of the 16th century with rich gold plating and an empty medallion in the middle. The codex is written on parchment and comprises 179 sheets in the small octave format (145 × 85 mm).
content
In the calendar, which contains a selection of saints for Langres (ff. 1r-12v), the signs of the zodiac from Aquarius to Capricorn are depicted in oval medallions on the recto side and adorned with various occupations of the noble people in the Bas-de-page. Of the following pericopes (ff. 13r-26r) only the texts of John, the beginning of the Gospel and the Passion Report are decorated with pictures. (Ff 26v-33r.) St. Mary's prayers and Marienoffizium (ff 33v -. 91V) follow penitential psalms (ff 92r -.. 109r), Office of the Dead (ff. 109v.- 147v.), Suffrages (ff 148R -.. 171 ) and a prayer of Christ attributed to St. Augustine (ff. 172v - 179r). At the very beginning of the Codex (fol.V2r-V4v) there is a livre de raison on five inserted sheets of paper , written by François Bretagne around 1659. The livre de raison reports from his wedding to the stillbirth of a son and was continuously updated. At the very end, again on a few inserted pages, there is another livre de raison with various entries by the de Bretagne family from the first decades of the 18th century.
Book decorations
The artist is a still unknown painter from the 1520 workshop. Every single page, including those that have not been written on, is framed with a more or less elaborate border. On the upper and lower edge and at the end of the text towards the fold, there are colored, contoured gold leaf strips. A larger border can be seen on the outside, usually with a gold ground, more rarely a colored ground. Most of the borders are provided with pictures or pictorial motifs. The often recurring representations of rats, which can probably be associated with a symbol of the client, are striking. The coat of arms of the Serre family can also be found in numerous places (for example f. 63v). The recto sides of the calendar and the beginnings of the text are adorned with large miniatures , each framed by Renaissance architecture. This consists of pilasters that stand on high plinths and support a ledge, an arch or an entablature. In the calendar, figures are also shown in the bar, such as dragons or semi-creatures.
History of the Codex
The Codex was completed in Dijon in 1524 . Bénigne Serre, a high official of the king in Burgundy, is considered to have commissioned the book of hours. It remains unclear how the codex got to the Bretagne family , who owned it until the mid-18th century. In May 1905, Jules Gauthier presented him at the meeting of the Commission des Antiquité de la Côte d'Or, to which Madame Saverot had drawn attention to it. Since Madame Saverot donated 26 manuscripts to the Dijon City Library, it is possible that the Book of Hours, as the Saverots' most valuable book possession, did not go to this foundation, but instead remained in the family's possession as a particularly valuable object.
gallery
Shepherd's Annunciation fol. 63v.
Mary with baby Jesus, goldfinch and magpie fol. 26v.
Capture of Christ fol. 18r.
literature
- Jules Gauthier: Le livre des Heures de Bénigne Serre , in: Mémoires de la Commission des Antiquités de la Côte d'Or 15, 1906/10, pp. 156–178.
- Shining Middle Ages , New Series III: From Saint Ludwig to the Sun King: 34 works of French illumination from Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque , described by Eberhard König with contributions by Gabriele Bartz and Heribert Tenschert, Ramsen Antiquariat Heribert Tenschert 2000, pp. 471–492.
- Marguerite Guillaume: La peinture en Bourgogne au XVIe siècle , exhibition catalog Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1990 especially no. 5–6 with illus.
- 1520s The Hours Workshop . In: The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art . Oxford 2002 (online edition).
Web links
- Online version of the manuscript, accessed March 29, 2014
- Manuscript description and bibliography, accessed on March 29, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/description/utp/0103
- ↑ http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/description/utp/0103 (accessed on March 29, 2014)
- ↑ http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/description/utp/0103 (accessed on March 30, 2014)
- ↑ http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/description/utp/0103 (accessed on March 31, 2014)