The Bliss Hours (Use of Rouen) In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment France, Rouen, c. 1465 15 miniatures by the workshop of the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen 276 ff., lacking one leaf after f. 120, else complete, written in a small, formal bâtarde book hand on sixteen long lines, rubrics in red, some blue and gold line fillers, one-line initials in burnished gold with black penwork or in blue with red penwork, calendar leaves with two-line KL in blue and pink on burnished gold grounds and with quarter panels on the rectos with blue and gold acanthus leaves and flowering vines in red, blue, pink, green, and gold and accented with burnished gold bezants, important feasts and Golden Numbers in burnished gold, with other saints days in blue or red, two-line initials in blue with white tracery and scrolling floral infill on burnished gold grounds, approximately half of the folios with very fine floral panel borders in colors and gold, including three folios with these borders on both sides of the text and one with a full border, fifteen very fine arch-topped miniatures with full borders, with foliage, fruit, and flowers rendered in a semi-naturalistic style, the first border with a brushed gold ground, with the text on these folios beginning with three- or four-line initials with floral or peacock infill on burnished gold grounds, with two vellum leaves inserted at front with fifteenth-, sixteenth-, and seventeenth-century family arms, faint penciled inscription on the front flyleaf, lower blank corner of June calendar leaf and lower fore-edge of f. 234 have been replaced neatly with no harm to the text, most likely when this book was rebound, burial miniature creased at the top (and possibly repaired, though, if so, with great skill), smudging or imperfection in the margin above the Crucifixion and Nativity miniatures with no harm to the miniatures, one border and one initial slightly blurred by a minor splash, and other trivial imperfections, but overall in remarkably fine condition, with the parchment especially clean and fresh and text, paint, and gold vivid, shining, and intact. Bound c. 1800 by Charles Hering (his ticket on the verso of the front flyleaf) in excellent brown straight-grain morocco blind-tooled with a palmette frame enclosing a stylized fanfare design, spine with raised bands, three panels blindtooled in a scrolling pattern, and two panels with gilt titling, turn-ins densely gilt with a frame of interlocking circles, fleuron corner pieces, all edges gilt, in crushed morocco pull-off box with gilt titling, Livre d Heures / MS Picard / 1460-65, a touch of rubbing to binding extremities. Dimensions 133 x 95 mm. This highly finished manuscript made for a special patron is notable for its unusual contents and its exceptional level of artistic achievement. The illumination is attributed to the Master of the Échevinage named after his vernacular commissions for city magistrates in Rouen, where artistic production flourished in the latter half of the fifteenth century thanks not only to civic officials but also to the patronage of English nobility. Many distinctive features place this work at the beginning of the artist s career, before increased demand for his productions resulted in streamlined manufacture and a greater uniformity in style by many collaborators. PROVENANCE 1. Produced in Rouen, most likely around 1465, to judge from some distinguishing characteristics of this book s illumination (see below, in Illustration). There are no Suffrages to the saints to provide indications of this book s intended owners, but the inclusion of the full Hours of Saint Catherine and of Saint John the Baptist suggests that the book could have been commissioned by or for a couple with these patron saints. It is tempting to speculate that this Catherine and this John might be represented within the book by the richly attired young couple holding a candle in the Presentation miniature, standing in the place normally occupied by Joseph.

2. The arms on the inserted leaves are probably those of early (though not original) owners, some of them possibly members of noble families of Artois. 3. The MS Picard on the morocco box that houses the manuscript indicates another possible owner: Charles-Adrien Picard (d. 1779), one of the greatest of all eighteenthcentury collectors, who owned more than one hundred illuminated manuscripts of the very highest class. The present manuscript may have been lot 39 from his sale of 31 January 1780, Heures, MSS sur vélin, decoré de XVI miniatures, in-8, v. m. dent d or. 4. Belonged to Rebekah Bliss (1749-1819), England s earliest female bibliophile. It is likely that Bliss had the book rebound by the greatest English binder of the day, Charles Hering (d. 1815), who has been described as the artistic successor to Roger Payne. See K. Davies, Mrs Bliss: A Collector of 1794, in Clark and Worral, eds, Blake in the Nineties, 1999, p. 222; bequeathed to her life-long companion Ann Whitaker (d. 1825); her sale at Saunders & Hodgson, 26 April 1826, Bibliotheca Splendidissima: A Catalogue of a Select Portion of the Library of Mrs. Bliss, Deceased, Removed from her Residence at Kensington..., lot 461. Inscribed on f. ii with a faint pencil inscription, presumably by the purchaser, Missal of considerable delicacy & beauty, Cost Mrs Bliss 25(?). 5. London, Quaritch, Catalogue 211 (1902) no 137. TEXT ff. 1-12v, Calendar, in French; ff. 13-53v, Hours of the Virgin, use of Rouen; ff. 54-67, Hours of Saint Catherine; ff. 67-80v, Hours of Saint John the Baptist; ff. 81-92, Seven Penitential Psalms; ff. 92-97, Litany, Petitions, and Collects; ff. 97v-100, Hours of the Cross; ff. 100v-103, Hours of the Holy Spirit; ff. 103-120v, Hours for the Days of the Week: for the Trinity (f. 103), of the Dead (f. 106v), of All Saints (f. 110), of the Holy Spirit (f. 113), of the Sacrament (f. 113v), of the Cross (f. 117), of the Virgin (f. 117), ending incompletely; ff. 121-141, Hours of the Compassion of the Virgin, beginning incompletely; ff. 141-144v, Litany of the Virgin; ff. 144v-145v, Prayers to the Virgin;

ff. 145v-150v, a devotion consisting of the incipits of the Seven Penitential Psalms, each accompanied by a prayer; ff. 150v-157, Psalm 113, the Athanasian Creed, and a collect; ff. 160-188, Office of the Dead, use of Rouen-Sarum; ff. 192-197v, Gospel extracts; ff. 197v-204v, Obsecro te and O intemerata ; ff. 205-220, the Passion of Christ according to Matthew (Matthew 26-27); ff. 220v-243, Long Hours of the Passion; ff. 243-255, Prayers to Saint Michael and the Virgin; ff. 256-274, Psalter of Saint Jerome; ff. 274v-276v, prayer to All Saints. ILLUSTRATION The subjects of the full-page miniatures: f.13, the Annunciation; f. 22v, the Visitation; f. 33, the Nativity; f. 38, the Adoration of the Magi; f. 41, the Presentation in the Temple; f. 44, the Flight into Egypt; f. 47, Christ among the Doctors; f. 50, the Death of the Virgin; f. 54, Saint Catherine; f. 67v, Salome Presenting the Head of Saint John the Baptist; f. 81, King David in Prayer;

f. 97v the Crucifixion; f. 100, Pentecost; f. 160, a Burial; f. 220v, Betrayal and Arrest of Christ. The illumination of these miniatures is attributed to the workshop of the Master of the Échevinage of Rouen, and the work here is of such high quality that it is likely to have been done by the master himself. Active in Rouen for a quarter century, beginning in the late 1450s, the artist painted a substantial number of chronicles, including perhaps a dozen copies of the Bouquechardière, Jean de Courcy s ancient history of the Rouen region; these were done for municipal patrons, or échevins, from which our painter takes his name. While he earned great prestige for providing these large manuscripts, his workshop made its way by issuing Books of Hours. The Master of the Échevinage of Rouen s work is characterized by very detailed and richly colored miniatures that have distinct similarities in composition (see, for example, Christopher de Hamel s comparison of several key details of four of the artist s Nativity scenes in 2004, pp. 196-197). Particular distinguishing characteristics of the master are seen here in the use of grisaille acanthus leaves in the liquid gold border of the first miniature and the use of an unusually opaque yellow pigment, noticed most prominently in the Betrayal miniature. The grisaille acanthus is useful in dating the manuscript, as it was a feature that made a limited appearance in the master s work in the early 1460s. The plausible figures and landscapes filled with turreted castles are comparable to those in his miniatures in copies of La Bouquechardière, datable between 1457 and 1461, and the Chronique de Normandie of c.1460, certainly before 1465 (Paris BnF, MSS fr. 2685 and fr. 2623). By the 1470s the Master s figures had become more elongated and his settings and details more summary. This fact is of great interest, as his early work is recognized as much superior to what came later, when increased demand led to simplification of style as more rapid production was required, and by this time numerous artists must have also collaborated on his manuscripts (for the Master and these manuscripts, see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1993, pp.168-73). Some rare pictorial inclusions include the illustration on f. 47 at vespers of the Hours of the Virgin with the subject of Christ among the Doctors, and on f. 50 the replacement at Compline of the Coronation of the Virgin with the Death of the Virgin. The miniature of Christ among the Doctors may owe something to the Master of the Munich Golden Legend, who used the scene in an Hours of Paris use (British Library, Add MS 18192) and painted a small version in the Sobieski Hours (Windsor Castle, The Royal Library), where the subject also appears in a miniature in the Bedford style. The older Master of the Munich Golden Legend spent time in Rouen, where his emphasis on surface pattern and firmly outlined shapes informed the style of the younger Master of the Échevinage of Rouen. Equally rare is the inclusion of Salome with the head of John the Baptist, a subject that illustrates the uncommon Hours of St. John the Baptist. While the dimensions and the number of miniatures are very different, the style, coloring, composition, delicacy, and finish of the illuminations here display a strong kinship with the Hours of Saint-Lô, the masterpiece of the Master of the Échevinage of Rouen which sold for a record

sum for this artist at the Ortiz-Patiño sale in 1998. Each miniature is a remarkable achievement, with vibrant paint deftly applied in scenes of composed in such a way as to bring about the optimal emotional response. All have richly detailed architecture, costumes, and backgrounds. The faces display a wide range of features and expressions that manifest character as well as emotions. For example on f. 33, the face of Joseph (often portrayed as buffoonish in medieval art and drama) shows the confusion and concern of a man who finds himself completely out of his depth. When confronted with the Magi, he gawks comically at the three kings while clutching his head in amazement at the riches before him. On f. 97v in the miniature of the Crucifixion, the bloodied Christ looks down from the cross, conflicted with pity, regret, and resignation, as he sees his mother collapsed in the arms of Saint John. In addition to the customary texts, this manuscript contains the rare Hours of the Days of the Week, the Hours of the Compassion of the Virgin, the Long Hours of the Passion, the Psalter of Saint Jerome, the Athanasian Creed, two chapters from the Gospel of Matthew recounting the Passion of Christ, and additional prayers and devotions. The refined delicacy of the illumination, where burnished and liquid gold intensify the dominant blues, pinks and greens, ensures that this Hours stands out from the run of the Master s production. Its very full texts, unusual miniatures, and highly finished appearance indicate a special commission from a patron with particular requirements that elicited an exceptional response LITERATURE Avril, Francois and Nicole Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, Paris, Flammarion, 1993. De Hamel, Christopher. A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd ed., London, Phaedon, 2004. Rabel, Claudia, Master of the Rouen Échevinage, in The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner, London: Grove, 1996, vol. 20, pp. 664, 772, and 757, respectively. Rabel, Claudia, Artiste et clientèle à la fin du Moyen âge: les manuscrits profanes du Maître de l échevinage de Rouen, Revue de l art 84 (1989), pp. 48-60. BOH 116