Collects, sermons and lessons for the Nativity of the Virgin, Annunciation, Purification and Assumption
Texts and Images
The inclusion of these texts, not found in Parisian Books of Hours, indicates the influence of manuscripts from Brabant and Hainaut, and the diocese of Liège. Each of the Virgin’s four feasts received a large historiated initial showing the relevant episode in her life. They were painted by a single artist (hand D) on burnished gold grounds, with occasional diapered patterns (fol. 271v). The text and images show the water damage that the manuscript suffered when the collection of John Boykett Jarman was flooded in 1846.
Death and Assumption of the Virgin (collects, sermons and lessons for the Assumption)
This image, painted by Hand D, shows the Virgin on her death bed, surrounded by the apostles. The white robe and feet disappearing above allude to her Assumption. The image suffered water damage, causing superficial abrasion of the paint layer, especially noticeable in the draperies. Technical analyses did not give conclusive evidence for restoration, although two of the apostles wear robes of a much deeper pink colour than is found on other pages. While their composition is not in any way ‘suspicious’, as they contain no modern pigments, their different colour may suggest that they were not part of the original campaign of decoration.