Office of the Dead, at Vespers, Leaf from a Book of Hours
Item
Title
Office of the Dead, at Vespers,
Leaf from a Book of Hours
Leaf from a Book of Hours
Creator
Artist unknown
Flemish, active late 15th–early 16th century
Flemish, active late 15th–early 16th century
Date
c. 1500
Materials
Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Measurements
7-1/4 x 5-1/6 in. (18.4 x 13 cm)
Description
In the latter years of the 15th century, Flemish manuscript illuminators initiated a new approach to the embellishment of borders—the area of a page that surrounds the painted miniature or, as in the two sheets on view here, the written text. Whereas decorations previously tended toward two-dimensional design, around 1475, the manuscript artists working at first in the cities of Bruges and Ghent, inspired by the Renaissance preference for close observation of nature, began to employ realistically rendered plants and animals in an illusionistic manner to suggest that they rested not within, but atop a delimiting field of gold. While the birds, caterpillars, and butterflies remain somewhat generic, the flowers—from the garland of roses and heartsease here to the periwinkles, roses, and forget-me-nots scattered throughout the border on the adjacent page—are readily identifiable, due perhaps to the longstanding need for an accurate depiction of medicinal herbs that dates back to ancient times.
The Latin text, the opening of Vespers (prayers offered at sunset) from the Office of the Dead cycle of the canonical hours, reads:
I have loved, because our Lord: will hear the voice of my prayer.
Because he hath inclined his ear to me: and in my days I will call upon him.
The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the pains of hell have found me.
I have found tribulation, and sorrow: and I called on the name of our Lord.
O Lord, deliver my soul, merciful Lord, and just: and our God hath mercy.
The Latin text, the opening of Vespers (prayers offered at sunset) from the Office of the Dead cycle of the canonical hours, reads:
I have loved, because our Lord: will hear the voice of my prayer.
Because he hath inclined his ear to me: and in my days I will call upon him.
The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the pains of hell have found me.
I have found tribulation, and sorrow: and I called on the name of our Lord.
O Lord, deliver my soul, merciful Lord, and just: and our God hath mercy.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University
Identifier
82.36.1
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.