Prayer Salve sancta facies
Texts and Images
Particularly popular in 15th-century Flemish Books of Hours, the prayer Salve sancta facies nostri redemptoris (‘Hail, O holy face of our redeemer’) promises admission to heaven at the end of time. It was believed to be most effective in reducing one’s ordeal in Purgatory by thousands of years if recited while looking at an image of Christ’s face. The full-page frontispiece of Christ’s image on the left (fol. 13v) faces the beginning of the text surrounded by a full border of peacock feathers on the right (fol. 14r). This, the first double opening, provides a grand entrance into the volume.
Acanthus initial S and border with peacock feathers (prayer Salve sancta facies)
The indulgence prayer promises admission to heaven and it could also reduce one’s ordeal in Purgatory by thousands of years, if recited while looking at the image of Christ on the facing page (fol. 13v). The text is engulfed in peacock feathers, referencing one of Christ’s symbols – the bird of Paradise whose flesh, according to legend, did not putrefy after death.
The peacock’s plumage was favoured by discriminating patrons and Flemish artists rose to the challenge of its naturalistic depiction. On this page, the peacock feathers were rendered with complex mixtures and layers of a number of colourants, including red lead, malachite, lead white, shell gold and earth pigments. The bright blue centres of the feathers were painted with smalt, a relatively uncommon pigment obtained by grinding blue glass. This is the only occurrence of smalt identified so far in this manuscript.