An Astounding Book of Hours of Carmelite Use by the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book, Unknown to Scholarship

Book of Hours. Horae B. M. V. Carmelite use. Illuminated manuscript on vellum in Latin and Dutch with 41 images: 15 full-page miniatures and 26 historiad initials. Bruges, around 1480. 285 leaves, complete. 120 x 80 mm. Modern green velvet binding over wooden boards, with clasp.

With this Book of Hours, which uses traditional borders for simpler incipits and more modern Ghent-Bruges borders on gold grounds for the most important text beginnings, the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book intervenes in a development for which he has not previously been recognised. More important than this possible historical significance, however, are the poignant miniatures, in which the peculiar spirit of the fantastic landscape painter and the artist's deep understanding of inner drama transcend the beauty of the book culture of the time of origin. The representation of Christ with the world globe is one of the earliest, if not the earliest at all of this theme. The manuscript is thus a particularly revealing example of the work of the Dresden Prayer Book Master, complete and beautifully preserved, and completely unknown to scholarship until now.

The Master of the Dresden Prayerbook, to whom Bodo Brinkmann dedicated a two-volume monograph in 1997, is still good for surprises. In this book, he proves himself to be a virtuoso of the small format, able to capture the most delicate images with the finest landscape backgrounds. His world view is characterised by the hazy light that makes the skies appear as if in a light veil of clouds. The artist offers the eye surprising glimpses into the distance; he likes to focus this sensation on the image of David's atonement, which is why Brinkmann has also chosen one of these as the motif for the cover. Compared to the rather large-format miniature from The Hague (from Meermanno-Westreenianum 10.F.1), our book is even more delicate and dainty. Brinkmann was not yet familiar with it.

The alternation of trompe-l'oeil borders with scattered flower motifs and traditional border decoration with a parchment ground could be of decisive importance. The change took place during the short reign of Mary of Burgundy, who died in an accident in 1482; our book could well be one of the pioneer pieces. It should not be forgotten that the most important early example, the Book of Hours of Engelbert of Nassau in the Oxford Bodleian Library, Douce 219-220, has the scattered flower borders of modern coinage spread over what were initially traditional marginal paintings.

Provenance: Propbably made for someone closely connected to the Carmelite convent in Bruges - manuscripts of Carmelite Use are of the utmost rarity. Later in the possession of William Holland Winterrowd with his gilt bookplate.

Literature: For the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook: Brinkmann 1997; for the Oxford Book of Hours: Alexander 1978; for the Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy in Berlin: König 1988

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