189 leaves, wanting a single leaf, else complete, collation: i6 (enclosing all the prefactory texts of the volume), ii-viii8, ix7 (most probably wanting first leaf), x-xxiv8 (this including blank original endleaves at back), written in single column of 23 lines of an angular bookhand, capitals with red penstrokes, red rubrics, one- and 2-line initials in red or blue, the largest of these with colourless designs left inside their bodies, a few initials in gold on brown and burgundy grounds and with foliage extending into margins, four pages with large initials in same foliage on gold grounds and with full decorated borders of flower cuttings and coloured geometric designs strewn on gold grounds, these including cockerels, a realistic kingfisher and a fox dressed in a hood as a prelate preaching to a group of birds as a white dog looks on growling in disapproval, one page with a large blue initial on gold grounds and with full border in grisaille on a silver ground with details of foliage and a realistic putti picked out in hairline gold brushstrokes, another page with a brown bear eating from an upturned pot on a grassy hillock in the bas-de-page, one full-page arch-topped miniature of the Garden of Gethsemane, with Christ kneeling before a rocky outcrop within a wooden fence, as his disciples sleep on the ground next to him, with full border as before, small area of one endleaf at front cut away, trimmed at outer vertical edge with some losses to edges of borders there, some very minor flaking from painting, a few spots and stains, overall in excellent and fresh condition, approximately 220 by 150mm.; bound in light brown nineteenth-century morocco, blind-tooled with chevrons and floral panels in centre of each board, and with an outer panel of gilt fillet enclosing geometric patterns, spine with ""Missal"" in gilt and six other panels all gilt-tolled with foliate designs, slight scuffs and bumps, book block separated at back along upper edge of spine, else good condition
Text:
The volume comprises: tables for preferential bloodletting and similar; a Calendar; the Seven Penitential Psalms; nine prayers ascribed to St. Anselm, preceded by a prologue; a contemplation of the Passion of Christ ascribed to St. Augustine, followed by another Augustinian devotional text in Dutch translation; a prayer of religious meditation (""ghepeynsinghe"") on various subjects, in six parts, ascribed to Augustine in its explicit; and a prayer to God the Father.
Illumination:
The full-page miniature here is in an appealing and somewhat rustic style, with foliage and flower cuttings in the borders pointing towards the artists of the Northern Netherlands in the last decade of the fifteenth century (see J. Marrow, The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, 1990, images for XII 101 and XII 108 on pp. 261 and 264, figs, 149-150 and 156 among others). The geometric device in the border of the page facing the miniature probably derives from lacework of the form accompanying the owner's initials in a Book of Hours illuminated by the Master of Cornelius Croesinck c. 1494 (now New York, Morgan Library M.1078 (ibid., no. 101, see fig. 159). What adds great charm to the volume is the artist's inclusion of numerous animals. The fox dressed as a clergyman, preaching to a group of foolish birds, is a well-known medieval scene aimed as satire against charlatan preachers. However, the addition of the snarling white dog, looking on in disapproval here, is a pleasing domestic addition. The bear eating from an upturned pot is close to late medieval or Renaissance depictions of dogs in a similar situations (notably that on a wooden platter dated 1557, by Pieter Brueghel), with those referring to the Dutch medieval expression 'De hond in de pot vinden' ('To find the dog in the pot', literally meaning to arrive late for a meal and all the food has been eaten, but also meaning to join or arrive at an event or thing too late to enjoy the rewards). The bear appears in some bestiary accounts in the same vein, as a glutton that will gorge itself on honey, in contrast to the industrious bees who toiled to make the honey, and a similar image of a bear eating from a broken and toppled-over hive appears in a copy of 'La fleur de vertu' illuminated by the Master of François de Rohan in 1530 (now Paris, BnF. Ms. fr. 1877). Our artist may have been confused by his exemplar, or is alluding to the sinful gluttony of bears. Following this, it is tempting to see the kingfisher (Latin: halcyon) here as included for its allegorical and spiritual meaning in bestiaries: bringing calm and grace (following the mistaken idea that the birds had a calming effect on turbulent weather, using that to hatch their eggs).
Provenance:
1. Most probably commissioned by Niclaus von Wintons(?), who added his ex libris in a late fifteenth-century hand to a front original endleaf, stating that the book cost 38 guilders. It was written and illuminated in the Northern Netherlands, apparently for use in the vicinity of Utrecht (the Calendar with SS. Frederic of Utrecht, patron of the city, on 18 July, and Willibord, first bishop of Utrecht, in red on 7 November).
2. Sir Godfrey Webster (1747-1800), 4th Baronet, English politician: his armorial bookplate on front pastedown. After his father's suicide due to his gambling debts, his son and namesake frittered away his inheritance and was forced to sell much of his father's library (most probably including this book) to the London bookdealer, Thomas Thorpe in 1835.
3. W.A. Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey (1885-1963): his red leather, gilt-tooled armorial bookplate affixed to front endleaf; this manuscript not among his various auction sales, and so most probably sold or given away by him during his lifetime
