Description
This outstanding Book of Hours appears to have been illuminated by Pierre Villate, the most documented yet most mysterious painter active in late-fifteenth century Avignon. Its highly personalized content and heraldic features allow to identify its patron as a nun of the Cistercian convent St. Katherine, established at the bottom of the hill of the Palace of Popes. Depicted in prayer before the initial of the Virgin of Mercy, she was a daughter of a Lord of Hélary and of a Lady of Laudun. Of the highest quality, the eight large miniatures and two illuminated initials of this manuscript, each accompanied with inventive floral borders, demonstrate the close relationship of their illuminator with the renowned Enguerrand Quarton. The rediscovery of this important, published Book of Hours offers a vivid reminder of the richness of manuscript illumination in the golden years of the “School of Avignon.”
238 + 2 (contemporary parchment) leaves on parchment, lacking at least two leaves with miniature and four leaves with loss of text, else complete (collation: i-ii6 [misbound, inverted quires], iii8, iv8-1+1 [f. 25, singleton with miniature inserted), v8-2 [one bifolium after f. 31, including f. 25, misbound, with loss of text], vi8+1 [f. 35], vii8, viii8-1 [after f. 55, likely with miniature], ix8-2 [after ff. 58 and 61, with loss of text], x-xii8, xiii8-1 [after f. 92, likely with decorated initial], xiv-xxix8, xxx6 [f. 225 added], xxxi8, xxxii6-1 [flyleaf after second flyleaf]), some catchwords, written in brown ink in a formal gothic bookhand, ruled in red or purple for 19 lines (written space: 100 x 63 mm), rubrics in red, capitals touched with yellow, line-fillers in gold on alternately red and blue grounds with white tracery, one- and two-line initials in gold on alternately red and blue grounds with white tracery, three- to five-line initials in red or blue on gold ground with white tracery, in-filled with red and blue foliage scrolls, accompanied with a three-sided floral border of gold vine leaves with blue, red, and green scrolls of acanthus, in-filled with strawberries, daisies, birds, butterflies, and parrots, as well as various hybrids, framed with red or gold, ONE SIX-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL in blue on gold ground, accompanied with a full floral border of the same, including INNER-BORDER MINIATURE (f. 21), EIGHT LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES, framed with gold, accompanied with a four- to six-lines decorated initial on burnished gold ground, including ONE FOUR-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL (f. 29), all accompanied with a full floral border of the same with trompe-l’oeil birds, butterflies, parrots, and occasional drolleries, one including two shield-bearers angels in the lower frame, occasional stains, face and chest of Christ in the Calvary partially rubbed (f. 29), small tear to inner margin of folio with Annunciation miniature (f. 35), not affecting the miniature, skies in the miniature of David partially rubbed (f. 142), else in excellent condition. Bound in an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century green silk binding with floral patterns over pasteboards, all edges painted in red, green, and blue floral patterns, accompanied with a contemporary brown leather box (197 x 145 mm), blind-stamped with floral patterns, slight scuffs at corners, else in excellent condition. Dimensions 180 x 127 mm.
Provenance
1. This manuscript was illuminated in the 1460s by the panel painter and manuscript illuminator Pierre Villate, documented in Avignon from c. 1451 to 1495. Several features indicate that it was commissioned for a nun of the female Cistercian monastery St. Katherine of Avignon, the likely daughter of a Lord of the house of Hélary, Brittany, and of a Lady of the house of Laudun, established in the vicinity of Avignon
The unusual textual content of the manuscript as well as its illustration demonstrate that it was tailored to suit the needs of a Cistercian nun, considering the rare choice of a Cistercian use for the Hours of the Virgin, the feminine form of the prayer Sancta dei genitrix, and the select choice of Suffrages, including one to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (see below).A further clue to such patronage is found in the marginal depiction of the patron nun in prayer before an historiated initial of the Virgin of Mercy (f. 21). That the manuscript was made for use in Avignon is further suggested by the inclusion of saints typical of Provence, such as St. Lazare and St. Martha in the calendar, and St. Peter of Luxembourg, buried in Avignon, in the Suffrages. Finally, the recurring number of prayers and suffrages to St. Katherine (ff. 139-141, 192, 212-213v) suggest that the patron nun belonged to the Cistercian female monastery Saint Katherine of Avignon. Founded in the outskirts of Avignon in the eleventh century, this institution settled within the city walls around 1252 and was dismantled in the French revolution. Built at the bottom of the Palace of the Popes’ hill, its church now survives as a theater.
The miniature of the Annunciation (f. 29) is accompanied with two angels bearing arms, depicted in the lower border and illuminated by the same hand. If the patron is indeed the nun depicted in prayer in the margin of the initial of the Virgin of Mercy, these arms most likely belonged to her parents, as is further suggested by the entire form of the second shield, which would be divided in a parti for a spouse. The left-hand coat of arms, on the father side, is blazoned sable, tenroundels argent, on a canton azure, a lion or (“de sable à dix besants d’argent, au canton d’azur, chargé d’un lion d’or”), andhas been identified with that of the Britton House of Hélary (Avril 1977). The right-hand coat of arms, mother side, is blazoned azure, a saltire or, a label of tree points gules (“d’azur au sautoir d’or, surmonté d’un lambel à trois pendants de gueules”), and belongs to the House of Laudun, Lords of Codolet and Caderousse, two small towns of the vicinity of Avignon. Further research into the biographical records of these two families may allow to pinpoint this as-of-yet unidentified alliance and reveal the identity of the patron nun.
2. The present manuscript was sold at Sotheby’s, 11 December 1968, lot 205, where acquired by:
3. John Percival Love (1896-1974), Oxford, a renowned antiquarian bookseller, affiliated with Francis Edwards Antiquarian Books, London.
Text
ff. 1-12, Calendar, misbound, including feasts associated with the Cistercian order, including Guillaume of Bourges (10 January) and the Translation of St. Benedict (11 July), as well as with cults popular in Southeastern France, such as St. Lazare and St. Marthe (December 17, in red);
ff. 13-16v, Gospel Sequences;
ff. 17-19v, Obsecro te; ff. 20-20v, blank, ruled;
ff. 21-28v: Prayers, in French, f. 21, [Achille Caulier], “O digne preciosite…,” [from Achille Caulier, Lay, see Piaget 1902, pp. 318-321]; ff. 21-21v, “Pour plorer cette enormité…”; f. 21v, “Doctrine m’a pou profité…”; f. 22, “L’ennemy benedicite…”; ff. 22-22v, “Par le respons bien médité…”; f. 22v “Se fut bien grant novalité…”; f. 22v-23, “Ainsi mist ta simplicité…”; f. 23, “Puis que si grant affinité…”; f. 23, “Seule entiere maternité”; ff. 23v-24, “Helas je suis a mort…”; f. 24, “Seur chemin de félicité”; ff. 24v and 26, Jean Molinet, Oraison à la Vierge Marie, incipit “O escarboucle reluisant…”; ff. 25-25v (misbound, originally before f. 32), Short Hours of the Holy Spirit, in Latin, from Lauds (beginning imperfectly) to None (ending imperfectly); ff. 26-27, rubric, “Ad complectorium hymnus…”, incipit, “Christe qui lux est”; ff. 27-27v, rubric, “In adventu domini hymnus,” incipit, “Maria mater domini eterni…”; ff. 28-28v, rubric, “Incipit officium beate maria virginis. Ad vesperas än,” incipit “Nativitas tua dei genitrix…”;
ff. 29-31v, Short Hours of the Cross; ff. 32-32v, Short Hours of the Holy Spirit (beginning imperfectly, originally preceded by f. 25); ff. 33-34v, blank, ruled;
ff. 35-61v, Hours of the Virgin (unidentified use), including Matins, ff. 36-56v, Terce, ff. 57-58v (beginning and ending imperfectly), Sext, f. 59-59v (beginning and ending imperfectly), None, ff. 60-61v (ending imperfectly);
ff. 62-104v, Hours of the Virgin (Cistercian Use), Matins, ff. 62-67 (beginning imperfectly); Lauds, ff. 68-76v; Prime, ff. 77-81; Terce, ff. 81-85; Sext, ff. 85v-88v; None, ff. 89-92v; Vespers, ff. 93-98 (beginning imperfectly); Compline, ff. 98-104v;
ff. 104v-138v, Prayers for the thirty-two Sundays after the Nativity, in Latin;
ff. 139-141, Prayer to St. Katherine, “Gloriosissima virgo Katherina…”; f. 141v, blank, ruled;
ff. 142-151v, Penitential Psalms; ff. 151v-157, Litany and prayers; f. 157v, blank, ruled;
ff. 158-191, Office of the Dead (Cistercian Use); f. 191v, blank, ruled;
ff. 192-220v, Prayers and Suffrages, Suffrage to St. Katherine, f. 192; Suffrage to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, ff. 192-193; Prayers, in Latin, ff. 193-195; O Intemerata, ff. 195-199v; Sancta dei genitrix, ff. 199v-204v, feminine form (“intercedere pro me peccatrice”); Suffrage to St. Blaise, ff. 204v-205; Prayer to Christ, ff. 205-209; Prayer to the Lord, in French, ff. 209-210v; Prayer to the Holy Host, ff. 210v-212; Prayers to St. Katherine, ff. 212-213v, Prayers to the Lord, ff. 213v-218; Suffrage to St. Peter of Luxembourg, f. 219-220v.
ff. 221-235v, Prayers to the Virgin, “Domina mea sancta maria perpetua…,” “O sapiencia que ex ore…”
ff. 236-239v, Athanasian Creed, “Quicumque vult salvus esse…”.
Unusual features within the textual content of this Book of Hours demonstrate its liturgical use within a monastic context: these include the numerous series of prayers in Latin and French and of lessons intertwined within the offices, as well as a series of prayers for the thirty-two Sundays after the Octave of the Nativity. Even more uncommon is the doubling of the Hours of the Virgin, with a first, much incomplete version following an unrecorded use being succeeded with another written for the liturgical use of the Cistercians. Further peculiarities of notable interest include a lengthy, unrecorded prayer to St. Katherine inserted between the Hours of the Virgin and the Penitential Psalms, and the choice of Suffrages, with St. Katherine appearing twice, alongside St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. Peter of Luxembourg, whose tomb fostered an important pilgrimage in fifteenth-century Avignon. All these features suggest that the patron of the present manuscript, illuminated in Avignon, may have been a monial of the feminine Cistercian abbey Saint Katherine, founded in the eleventh century and established in the city itself in the thirteenth century. The extraordinary textual construction of the Book of Hours allows to fathom whether this manuscript could have been copied within the monastery itself.
Illustration
Eight large, arch-topped miniatures, and two historiated initials:
f. 21, Initial “O,” Virgin of Mercy;
f. 29, Crucifixion, with an initial “P,” Arma Christi;
f. 35, Annunciation, with two-angels bearing shields blazoned, on the left-hand side, “de sable à dix besants d’argent, au canton d’azur, chargé d’un lion d’or” (Hélary, Brittany), and on the right-hand side, “d’azur au sautoir d’or, surmonté d’un lambel à trois pendants de gueules” (Laudun, Provence);
f. 60, Presentation in the Temple;
f. 68, Visitation
f. 77, Nativity;
f. 101, Coronation of the Virgin;
f. 142, David in Prayer;
f. 152, Funeral Service.
In a seminal article published in 1977, François Avril attributed the illumination of the present manuscript to an anonymous illuminator responsible for two further Books of Hours in Oxford (Bodleian Library, MS Gough Liturg. 11) and Weimar (Thuringische Landesbibliothek, MS Qu. 57), which borders, models, and stylistic features are closely related. The author recognized the same artist in the initial of David in Prayer of the Missal of Jean des Martins (fig. 1), illuminated for the most part by Enguerrand Quarton, the greatest painter active in fifteenth-century Avignon. The same year, Nicole Reynaud added to the group some miniatures of a later Book of Hours in Moulins (Bibliothèque municipale), illuminated for the most part by Georges Trubert. Avril underlined the artist’s strong relationship with Quarton, pointing out how the historiated initial of the Virgin of Mercy in the present manuscript was derived from the central panel of the Cadard Altarpiece in Chantilly (Musée Condé) (fig. 3). Now incomplete, the latter was commissioned in 1452 from both Quarton and Pierre Villate and has been the subject of much debate, with art historians wavering between assigning it solely to Quarton, solely to Villate, or to both of them.
Pierre Villate, also known as Malebouche, is the last great painter of the celebrated “School of Avignon” whose work remains quite elusive. Active as a master painter in Avignon from 1451 onwards, he originates from a village in the diocese of Limoges. Villate enjoyed a successful and long-lasting career in Avignon, as evidenced by more than thirty documented works dating from 1452 to 1486, and passed away at around seventy years of age, between 1495 and 1505. He is known to have completed at least twelve altarpieces, several stained-glass windows, numerous monumental decorations, and a few books of hours for clients settled in Avignon, Aix, and Marseille (for published documents, see Labande 1932, pp. 104-108; Pansier 1934, pp. 228-254; Chobaut 1939, pp. 135-136). An important workshop evidently supported his flourishing production. From 1468 onward, assistants are cited alongside him, among whom must have been his sons Laurent (documented from 1484 to 1498) and François (documented from 1485 to 1504). By the late 1480s, both his sons were working independently and appear to have specialized in the field of stained-glass painting (Guidini-Raybaud 2003, p. 341-343).
In 1977, François Avril convincingly compared these manuscripts, including the present one, with a panel in Marseille depicting St. Bernadin of Siena with two donors (Musée Grobet-Labadié, fig. 4), and suggested that their painter may be identified with Villate. All these works demonstrate compelling analogies with the Hélary-Laudun Hours, considering for instance how the Visitation, Presentation in the Temple, and Coronation of the Virgin find their counterparts in the Oxford Hours (figs. 6a and b) or how the folded draperies of David in Prayer compare with those of St. Bernardin. Shared stylistic features include the subtle rendition of high interiors that open onto deep, receding landscapes, the stocky figures with square-shaped heads and high cheekbones, as well as the swollen folds of the draperies, painted in vivid colors that often contrast with the mute tones of the background. One further clue lies with the preliminary drawing of the Calvary, made visible thanks to a flake, that compares to the modelling in a delayed red tone of the face of the lady donor in Marseille.
In 2002, the identification of this hand with Villate’s was reinforced by the discovery of a Book of Hours in Namur (fig. 8), mostly illuminated by the same artist, with Quarton contributing only one miniature (Avril and Vanwijnsberghe 2002). The borders surrounding the latter demonstrate an illusionistic approach to the depiction of birds, flowers, and butterflies that is best compared with our manuscript. The authors also attributed four other manuscripts to this artist, now in Albi (BM, MS Rochegude 108), Amiens (BM, MS Lescalopier 19), Dijon (BM, MS 2968), and New York (Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.1007). In 2020, Constantin Favre attempted to distribute this ever-growing number of manuscripts among five hands active in Quarton’s circle rather than Villate’s. He attributed a more limited group – the present manuscript and those of Oxford, Dijon, and Moulins – to the so-called Master of Pierre Baroncelli, whom he tentatively identified as Jean de La Cort, a Strasbourg painter documented in Avignon from 1456 to 1487, who entered Quarton’s workshop in 1457.
Despite the involvement of multiple artists, the consistency of the models and stylistic features encountered throughout these manuscripts suggest that they were illuminated within a significant workshop active in Avignon during the second half of the fifteenth century, comparable to what is known of the workshop of the Villate family.The numerous relationships noted by François Avril between these manuscripts and the Marseille panel, along with Quarton’s models and occasional contributions, provide strong evidence for considering the Hélary-Laudun Hours a remarkable and rare example of Pierre Villate’s work in Avignon, the sole to remain in private hands.
Literature
Published in:
Avril, François. “Pour l’enluminure provençale: Enguerrand Quarton peintre de manuscrits?,” Revue de l’art 35 (1977), pp. 9-40, cited and illustrated pp. 38-40, fig. 67.
Avril, François, and Dominique Vanwijnsberghe. “Enguerrand Quarton, Pierre Villate et l’enluminure provençale: à propos d’un livre d’heures inédit conservé au Grand Séminaire de Namur (Belgique),” Revue de l’art 135 (2002), pp. 77-92, cited p. 92, n. 32 [as Sotheby’s].
Favre, Constantin. “Enguerrand Quarton et Pierre Villate,” in Peindre à Avignon aux XVe-XVIe siècles, ed. F. Elsig, Milan, 2020, pp. 97-107, cited p. 98, 100.
Further literature:
Avril, François, and Nicole Reynaud. Les Manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440-1520, Paris, 1993,pp. 238-244.
Chobaut, Hyacinthe. “Documents inédits sur les peintres et peintres-verriers d’Avignon, du Comtat et de la Provence occidentale de la fin du XIVe au premier tiers du XVIe siècle,” Mémoires de l’Académie de Vaucluse, 1939, pp. 83-145.
Guidini-Raybaud, Joëlle. « Pictor et veyrerius ». Le vitrail en Provence occidentale, XIIe-XVIIe siècles, Paris, 2003.
Labande, Léon-Honoré. Les primitifs français. Peintres et peintres-verriers de la Provence occidentale, Marseille, 1932.
Laclotte, Michel, and Dominique Thiébaut, L’École d’Avignon, Paris, 1983.
Pansier, Pierre. Les peintres d’Avignon aux XIVe et XVe siècles. Biographies et documents, Avignon, 1934.
Reynaud, Nicole. “Georges Trubert, enlumineur du roi René et de René II de Lorraine,” Revue de l’art 35 (1977), pp. 41-63, 56-57.
Sterling, Charles. Enguerrand Quarton, le peintre de la Pietà d’Avignon, Paris, 1983.