The Pontifical of Renaud de Bar

Office for the Dedication of a Church

Texts and Images

This long text has nineteen large miniatures, several of which are displayed on the right. The cycle opens with an illustration of a group of people praying in front of a reliquary (a shrine containing saintly relics) on the eve of the dedication of a church (fol. 1r). It ends with a miniature showing a bishop and clergy processing towards the altar before celebrating the Mass of dedication (fol. 50r).

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1
Details of the overpainted coats of arms in the lower border with the corresponding near-infrared images (below). The contrasting appearance of azurite and ultramarine under infrared light – one dark, the other light – facilitates the identification of Renaud de Bar’s arms, which are intact in the Prague portion of the manuscript.
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2
Detail of a retouched area under magnification (7.5x). The missing top half of the original figure sitting on a branch has been roughly overpainted with blue and red leaves by the same hand who complete the unfinished miniatures in quire 15 (cf. fols. 98r and 100r).
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3
Detail of the church in the lower border under magnification (7.5x), showing the careful adjustments made in the final stages of the door’s decoration with respect to the original sketch visible underneath.
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4
Detail of a gilded leaf under magnification (32x), showing the blue bole containing indigo.

Lay people praying at a reliquary (Office for the Dedication of a Church)

A bishop blesses a church in the historiated initial O and kneels at a prayer desk to say his devotions in the historiated initial V. The full bar border is decorated with male and female figures, animals, birds, a pair of jousting hybrids and coats of arms that have been overpainted. A bishop, accompanied by two acolytes (assistants), blesses a church in the bas-de-page.

Related content: The Pontifical of Renaud de Bar