Book of Hours

The Painter of Additional 15677

Artists

Most of the large miniatures and historiated initials were illuminated by an artist named the Painter of Additional 15677 after another Book of Hours (London, BL, Add. MS 15677). He was a competent and prolific professional. His figures, though stiff and puppet-like, with stereotypical faces, are well proportioned. His modelling is conventional, but he created pleasing sequences of shadowed passages and shell gold highlights. Although his colour scheme and method of painting are no match for the luminous palettes and sophisticated techniques of the other three artists, he reused creatively a wide range of designs circulating among them and other contemporaries. He painted the Calendar’s historiated borders with admirable topicality and the architectural borders throughout the volume with convincing perspective.

This page was illuminated by the Painter of Additional 15677. The image of the Three Living and the Three Dead was a favourite illustration for the Office of the Dead in Books of Hours. The skulls in the niches of the architectural border and the corpse in the foreground harmonise with the main theme. One of the three living, the rider in scarlet robes, may represent the Cardinal for whom this manuscript was made.